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AND-BOOK 



MISSOURI. 



I 

EXHIBITS OK THE AGKICU LTl KAL, OOMMEKClAl,, INDU5TKIAI, MINERAL. FINANCIAL 

EDUCATIONAL, RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL INTERESTS OF THE STATF.; TOGETHER 

WITH ITS TOPPGRAI'HICAL FEATURES. PRANSPORTATION FACILITIES, 

HEALTH, CLIMATE, ETC., AND A COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF 

THE SIZE AND LOCATION, SOILS, TOWNS AND PRO- 

DUCTIVB CAPACITY OF KACH COUNTY. 



I8SUBD BT 

THE MISSOURI IMMIGRATION SOCIETY, 

W 

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI. 



7 



FirstlEdition, September, 1880. 5,000 Copies- 
Second Edition, January, 1881. 10,000 Copies. 



ST. LOIILS: 

Times Printing House. Fifth and Chestnut STRiMTS, 

1 S30. 



OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 



Missouri Immigration Society, 



(INCORPORATED, DECEMBER, 1880.) 



O IP IF I O IB lE^/ S 



PUESIDENT AND TKEASUKEK, 

THOMAS W. FITCH. 

VICE-FKESIDENT. SECRETARY, 

HOMAS C. FLETCHER. MORRISON RENSHAW. 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 

Thomas W. Fitch, Charles P. Johnson, 

Thomas C. Fletcher, R. D. Lancaster, 

Charles E. Slayback, Norman J. Colman, ' 

Thomas Richeson, E. C. Cabell, 

A. W. SopER, Web M. Samuel, 

Enno Sander, D. P. Slattery, 
Waldo P. Johnson. 



PREFACE 



That the State of Missouri does not hold 'the rank 
to which it is entitled, in respect to population and 
that solid commercial and industrial wealth which 
is the natural result of a large increase of popula- 
tion, is acknowledged by the thinking citizens of the 
State. The bi-oad expanse of fertile lands contained 
witliin her boundaries are capable of sustaining, in 
health and comfort, ten times lier present popula- 
tion. The key-State of that grand constellation of 
States, known as the Mississippi Valley, witli natural 
commercial relations stretching to tlie north, to the 
south, to the east and the west; blessed by nature 
M'ith unequaled agricultural capabilities, and with 
every manufacturing facility; in fact, with all the 
l^re-requisites for tiie formation of a great empire of 
agriculture and trade, Missouri has not advanced 
with tlie steady and rapid stride slie should to the 
prominent position to which her many indisputable 
advantages entitle her. Tlie ratio of increase of 
population has been as great, perliaps, as that of any 
of the States east of tlie Mississippi River; but the 
increase is insignificant in comparison to what it 
might have been. 

(/Ommonwealths have arisen and matured into 
populous and influential States, beyond lier 
western border. By wagon, by train, and by boat, 
the ImmigTants in search of homes have been con- 
veyed to the sun-parched, locust-plagued prairies of 
the far west, leaving beliind the well-watered and 
grateful lands of a country never refusing a return 
to the husbandman. 

This is due not to any want of inducements to 
immigration possessed by Missouri, but solely to 
the fact that her natural advantages Iiave not been 
sufficiently advertised and made known to the 
people of otlicr States and countries. 

To the liome -seeker of tlie Eastern States, and to 
the traveler from across the seas, Jlissouri has been, 
comparatively, an unknown land and unfamiliar 
name, while wide-spread advertisements have made 
other less favored sections, witli tlieir attractions, 
real and assumed, household words in emigration 
centers. 

For years these facts have been commented upon, 
and the apathy of Missourians relative to immigra- 
tion, criticised. Gradually a change has taken place, 
and through the efforts of pul)lic spirited men, in 
every county and city, who recognize the supreme 
importance of tlirowing off this letharg}- and injuri- 
ous indifference to a matter so vital to the State's 
gi'owth, a different feeling has been aroused and is 
now bearing fruit. Tlie result of these efforts is that 
Missouri has been already advertised as it never was 
advertised before, and tliat her population has in- 
creased more rapidly in the last ten month.s than at 
any period of her history. 

On the 21st of November, 1879, a meeting of St. 
Louis citizens was called to consider tlie best prac- 
ticable means of promoting immigration to Missouri. 



At this meeting the St. Louis Immigration Society 
was organized, not in Oie interest of local immigra- 
tion alone, but to stimulate the organization of 
similar associations in every county and, by united 
effort, to work for the best good of .'ill. The St. 
Louis society advised and urged the people of each 
county to organize a home society a.nd to collect, 
collate and summarize, for easy reference, such in- 
formation as would be of interest to immigrants ; 
but to present only such facts as would bear the 
closest scrutiny. A State Immigration Convention 
was called, to which each county was requested to 
.'iend delegates, who would prepare and submit to 
tlic Convention reports descriptive of their re- 
spective counties. In addition, well known citi- 
zens of distinguished ability, selected because of 
their special knowledge of and their peculiar 
fitness to discuss the subjects assigned to them, 
were invited to prepare papers upon subjects 
relating to the social, commercial, manufacturing, 
mineral and agricultural resources of the State at 
large. 

This convention met in the city of St. Louis, April 
i:;th, with four hundred and fifty-seven representa- 
tive men in attendance, the Governor of Ihe Slate 
presiding. Its deliberations lasted three days, and 
the following resolutions, expressive of the senti- 
ments of the i)eople of Missouri, and extending a 
welcome hand to the immigrant world, were unani- 
mously adopted: 

Whereas, The peopling of the State of Missouri 
is necessary to the development of those vast and 
varied resources which command for her a rank 
second to no State in the Union; and we are con- 
vinced that the character of Missouri and her inter- 
nal wealth are unknown, as well to the people of the 
Eastern States as of Europe ; and, 

Whereas, The development of these resources, 
so long neglected and delayed, has become of vital 
importance to our State, and in our belief it is onlj'- 
necessary to make these resources known to have 
them appreciated, and so turn the flood -tide of im- 
migration to Missouri; and, 

Whereas, In the present excited political and 
social condition of Europe, it is natural to believe 
that the hopes of struggling thousands are turned to 
the refuge of the New World, so we may confidently 
expect, by a united and purposeful effort, to direct 
these hopes to our State ; therefore, be it 

1. Resolved, That, as citizens of Missouri officially 
delegated to represent her in this State Convention, 
we pledge ourselyes, by all honorable means in our 
power, to advance, in conjunction with the State 
Board of Immigration and all other agencies, the 
cause of immigi'ation to this State. 

2. Resolved, That immigration to Missouri be 
made a feature of the coming political canvass in 
the State, and tliat candidates for State Legislative 
honors, without regard to the political party to which 



HAND-liooK OF Missouri. 



they belong, l)e requebtod to pi-oniote :ill such legis- 
lation as will be proi)crly ueoessary to a fulfillment 
of her manifest destiny. 

3. Kesolved, That, as without lualerial aid, we must 
despair of achieving any beneficial results, there- 
fore the Legislature at its next session be asked to 
make an unusual annual appropriation to aid the 
State Board of Immigration, adequate for the pur- 
pose of an active and extended canvass in the 
cause of immigration. 

i. Kesolved, That the law heretofore autliorizing 
counties to appropriate a sum not to exceed five 
hundred dollars in aid of organizations for the pro- 
motion of immigration, and declared by the Attor- 
ney-General to have been repealed ))y the last 
JyCgislature, should be re - enacted by the next 
(jeneral Assembly, and that a committee of five be 
appointed by the President of this Convention to 
draft an appropriate bill and urge its passage before 
the next session of the General Assembly. 

5. Resolved, That it is the sense of this Conven- 
tion that in the State of Missouri there exists and 
are enforced as effective, legal and constitutional 
protections to every religious, civil and political 
right as in any other State in the Union. 

6. Kesolved, That our senators and representa- 
tives in Congress be requested to urge upon the 
General Government the speedy establishment of a 
branch mint in the city of St. Louis. 

7. Kesolved, That our senators and representa- 
tives in Congress be requested to work harmoniously 
together, and persistently, for an appropriation to 
improve the channels of the Mississippi and Mis- 
souri Rivers, as a measure of justice to the whole 
State, and a commercial necessity to the several 
States of the Mississippi Valley. 

And, furthermore, be it 

Resolved, That we, the representatives of the 
people of the State of Missouri, in convention 
assembled, knowing the superiority of Missouri to 
any of the surrounding States in the quality and 
cheapness of its lands, in its inexhaustible mineral 
deposits, and in its mild and healthy climate, do 
hereby cordially invite and welcome to its soil all 
persons, irrespective of their religion, politics or 
nationality, who can aid by their labor or capital in 
the development of its vast resources. 

In accordance with the suggestions of the St. 
Txjuis Society, a report from'each county was pre- 
sented, and some sixty papers, of general interest, 
read and submitted, all of which were placed at the 
disposal of the society for publication. It was re- 
solved as the lirst step, to issue a condensed and 
carefully i)repared but attrac^live hand-book de- 
script)v(( of the State and counties, for free distribu- 
tion, edited, and arranged from the material pre- 
sented. 

THIS WOKK IS THE KKSULT. 

The statements and facts contained therein may 
be accepted with the utmost conlidcnce and trust 
in their authenticity. Nothing has been exagger- 
ated or even elaborated ; but, on the contrary, all 
undue advertisement has been suppressed. The 
county reports arc ne<;essarily brief, but will be 
found to contain, in most cases, detailed informa- 
tion upon all points important for tlie emigiant to 
know before stalling on his journey. 



It is iucompatable with the plan of a convenient 
hand-book of Missouri to include all the elaborate 
pajjers submitted to the convention. These will be 
published in full in a w(»'k now in progress of 
preparation. 

The different section-subjects of the article, re- 
lating to the State at large, have been compilcil from 
the following papers : 

1—" The. Valley of the Mississippi; Missouri, the 
Central State."' Charles P. Jolinso,., St. 
Louis, Mo. 

•2—" Physical Description of Jvorthcrii >M-.s«i;ir'i."' 

E. C. More, Columbia, Mo. 
:5— "Physical Description of Southern Missouri." 

James L. Minor, Jefferson City, JMo. 
4—" The Lowlands of Southeast Missouri." f.onis 

Houck, Cape Girardeau. 
5 — " CHimatology of Missouri."' Proi'es»sor George 

Engelman, St. Louis. 
() — " Health of Missouri." J)r. Wm. L. llarrt;*, St. 

Louis. 

7 — " Soils." From article by State Board of Immi- 
gration. 

8 — "Agricultural Capabilities of Missouri."' X.J 

Colman, St. Louis. 
9 — "Horticulture in Missouri." Prof. S. M. 'J'racy, 

State University, Columbia. 
10 — "Fruit Culture in Missouri."' ^^■nl. Stark, 

Louisiana, Mo. 
11 — "Vineyards and Wine in Missouri." I'rof. 

George Hussniann, State I'nivc'rsity, '"'■o- 

lumbia. 
12 — "The Grasses of Missouri." X. W. Bliss, 

Kingston Furnace, Washington County. 
13 — "Stock-raising in Missouri." K. H. Allen, 

O'Fallon, St. Charles County. 
"14 — " Dairying in Missouri." David A. Kl\ , Sublette, 

Adair County. 
1') — " Wool-Growing in Missouri." Samuel Archer, 

Kearney, Clay County. 
16 — "Minerals and Mining." From Statistics of 

State Board of Immigration. 
17 — " Manufactures." From Statistiis of State 

Board of Immigration. 
18 — "Grain Trade and Flour Manufacture in Mis- 
souri." Henr}' C. Yaeger, St. Louis. 
i;i_'' I'he Manufacture of Cotton, Wool, and Paper 

in Missouri." L. R. Shryock, St. Louis. 
20— " Cotton Trade of Missouri." J.^\^. I'aramore, 

St. Louis. 
21— "Labor and Wages in Missouri." Ai . 11. Iloiiier, 

St. Ix)uis. 
22 — " Railways of Missoiiii." .). L. Stephens. 

ISooneville. 
2:?_" Post-offices, Post Routes, and Telegrapli IJncs 

in Missouri." Samuel Ilays, St. I.ouis. 
o-t— " Commercial Relations of Missouri with the 

Southwestern States and Mexico." Tlioma.s 

Allen, St. Louis. 
25 — " Financial Condition of the State and t^ountie.'i 

of Missouri." Waldo 1'. Johnson, St. I>oui.><. 



Preface. 



26—" Laws Eelating to Debtor and Creditor, Exemp - 
tion, Homestead and Tax Laws of Missouri." 
Seymour D. Tliorapson, St. Lonis. 

27— " Universities, Colleges and Academies in Mis- 
souri." Prof. S. S. Laws, State University. 

28—" Oommou Schools of thfe State " (outside of 
St. Louis). R. D. Shannon, State Superin- 
tendent Public Schools, Jefferson City. 

29—" Common Schools of the City of St. Louis." 
Prof. W. T. Harris, St. Louis. 

;iO—" Churches, Asylums, Hospitals, and Elee- 
mosynary Institutions of Missouri." Rev. 
R. D. McAnally, St. Louis. 

31_" Society in Miesouri." Thomas C. Fletcher, St. 
I>oaie. 



:52— " Game and Fish in Missouri." J. G. W. Steed- 
" man, St. Louis. 

?,\i—" Why, I Came to Missouri." L. J. Farwell 
(ex-Governor of Wisconsin), Grant City, 
Worth County . 

The descriptions of. the three great cities of the 
State were prepared from the following: 
" Growth of St. Louis ; its Wealth and Industries." 
Henry Overstolz, Mayor, St. Louis. 

'■" Kansas City ; its Wealth and Industries ; its Pro- 
gress and Prospects." David L. Twitchell, 
Kansas City. 

" The History of St. Joseph and its Future." F. M. 
Posegate, St. Joseph. 



MISSOURI 



Area and Location. 



The State of Missouri, as will be seen by refer- 
ence to the map of the Republic, is situated geo- 
graphically almost in the exact center of the United 
States. It is the eighth State in the Union in area, 
and is larger than any StfJte east of or bordering 
upon the Mississippi Kiver, excepting the State of 
Minnesota. In round figures the area is 65,350 square 
miles, or 41,824,000 acres. The length of the State 
north and south is two hundred and eighty-two 
miles; its extreme width, east and west, is three 
hundred and forty-eight miles, and the average 
width two hundred and thirty-five miles. It is 
bounded, north by Iowa ; east by Illinois, Kentucky 
and Tennessee ; south by Arkansas, and west by 
Nebraska, Kansas, and the Indian Territory. With 



the exception of a small peninsular on the sonth- 
eastern corner, thirty-four miles long, the State lies 
between the parallels 36^ 30' and 40° 30' north lati- 
tude, and between longitudes 12° 2' and 18° 51' west 
from Washington, and it occupies almost the precise 
center of that portion of the United States lying 
between the Kocky Mountains and the Atlantic 
Ocean, and is midway between the British posses- 
sions on the north and Gulf of Mexico on the south. 
Missouri is the central State of the Great Valley of 
the Mississippi, the relations of which to the com- 
merce of the world is fully set forth in the following 
interesting address, delivered by Charles P. John- 
son, of St. Louis, before the State Immigration Con- 
vention, April 13th, 1880: 



"The Valley of the Mississippi." 



"Between the two mountain ridges that run 
parallel to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and 
extending from north to south over twenty-two 
degrees of latitude, lies the Valley of the Missis- 
sippi. The immense tract contains over 1,344,000 
square miles, or 796,460,000 acres. 

" The area is mostly included in the States and 
Territories of Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, 
Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, 
Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas and 
the Indian Territory. 

" Its physical features are varied, unique and won- 
derful. A principal one, attracting observation, is 
the admirable provision for fructification and 
drainage. No valley of the earth presents so uni- 
form and harmonious a series of ever-supplying 
tributaries, either to main or subordinate arteries. 
In obedience to the law of its construction, more 
tiian fifty rivers, after absorbing a vast netwoi-k of 
smaller irrigating streams, coursing in every direc- 
tion, pour their waters into a channel that bosoms a 
river unrivaled in natural magnitnde and extent, 
flowing onward for thousands of miles, and sweep- 
ing directly out into ocean waters. And this feature 
is not alone associated with fruitfulness imparted 
to soil and health to atmosphere, but it is also sug- 
gestive of the vast means afforded for transporta- 
tion for man and the commodities of his labor. 

" In its extended course the Mississippi traverses 
2,800 miles and is navigable for 2,000. The Red 
River is 1,550 miles long and navigable for 1,246. 
The Ai'kansas is 2,170 miles long and is navigable 
for 800 miles. The Missouri is' navigable for 2,893 



miles and is 3,047 miles long. The Ohio is 1,265 
miles long and is navigable for 975 miles. The 
whole making over 12,000 miles of navigable river 
ways througliout the valley. 

" We look in vain over the globe's expanse for any 
similar i)hysical features. Nature has here framed 
in a vast and symmetrical mold. No rival exists in 
the valley of the Nile, the Danube, the Volga or the 
Amazon. 

" Another notable feature is the Avide diversity of 
climate involvedin the extensive territorial sweep. 
Within a space from a point on the north, marking 
the source of a small tributaiy of the Missouri, and 
from thence stretching onward to tlie Southwest 
Pass, there is a season play of eveiy variety of 
temperature. The line of the southern boundary, 
though semi-tropical, unites with the waters of a 
gulf reaching the confines of the torrid zone, while 
at the northern limit the breath of the frozen arc 
frosts and fringes the great lakes. Throughout this 
intervening space, therefore, we have climatic 
effects of so varied a cliaracter as to vouchsafe the 
production of every requisite of necessity and 
luxury ever utilized by man. 

" But, after all, the most striking feature of this 
great valley is the apparent utter abandonment 
witli which nature has lavished her grandest and 
richest gifts. No region in the world has received 
equal recognition at her hands. The fabled pro- 
ductiveness of the Orient, or the divinely blessed 
Promised Land, pales before the realities of this 
broad expanse. On mountain and in vale, on hill 
and plain, there flourislies in superabundant diver- 
sity every article ihat can be absorbed by man in 



Hani>-Book of Missouri. 



liis advancing civilization. Staple grains that feed 
a world spring from tlie soil at tlie waving of 
labor's wand. 

" Flocks and lierds swarm in valley and on prairie, 
giving a golden fleece for man's apparel, adding 
provision for liis sustenance and assistance to his 
labor. 

" The iields of the south are whitened by the plant 
that affords man his chief raiment, and The spinning 
worm weaves its glossy .skein with as fibrous a 
beauty as its European or .Vsiatic prototype. 

" And here and there comes forth in proliflc growth 
the hempen plant, whose tough, enduring thread 
has made it the indispensable agent of commerce 
and the mechanic arts. 

" The hillside is gladdened by extensive vineyards, 
and tlie vine -press forces juice from grapes as 
luscious as were' ever kissed by the ripening sun in 
the vales of Burgundy or on the slopes of the Rhine- 
land. And where on earth is the region moi-e gen- 
ea-ous of its fruits ;ind flowers, or moi-e abundant in 
the variety of its vegetation? Nearly all the fruits 
known to the luxurious tastes of man are here, and 
our floriculture in its possibilities is incomparable. 
Landscapes are lined with the shadows of vast for- 
ests, the growth of centuries, from out of whose 
depths comes the timber that under the cunning 
hand of the artisan moulds into multifarious shapes 
and forms of usefulness ;ind l>eauty. 

" Thi-oughout tliis extended region are inexhausti- 
ble, deposits of copper and lead, zinc and tin, of sil- 
ver and of gold. On its western border the adven- 
turous miner lias already brought to light veins of 
those precious metals, piercing far down into the 
earth, revealing a splendor of wealth dwarfing the 
niagniflcence of the Montezumas and making a real- 
ity of the fabled magic of Aladdin's lamp. 

■' But if these be gifts worthy of homage to nature, 
wliat feelings of adoration should move us as we 
gaze on those mighty layers and bouldei-s of coal 
and iron , whose depository has already been mapped 
by the geologist? 

" 'The use of gold and silver,' says (iibbon, 'is in 
a great measure factitious, but it would l)e impossi- 
ble to enumerate the important and various services 
which agriculture and all the arts have received 
from iron, when tempered and fashioned by the op- 
eration of fire and the dextrous hand of man.' 

" Looking at the present innumerable uses of this 
valuable metal, and our daily and hourly contact 
with its shapings in every relation of life, and the 
grand possibility for new forms of utilization to an- 
swer the wants and cajiac-ity for enjoyment of man, 
in connection with the wealth of our deposits, the 
mind is startled into a ready recognition of its utter 
inability to grasp in detail the magnitude of a more 
modern or future revelation. And, in passing, it 
may not l)e inappropriate to ])roclaini that the might- 
iest contiuuons dc])Osit of this civilizing ore of the 
world is within tlie limits of our own favored Mis- 
souri. 

"In 1870 the po))ulation of tlic eigliteen States in- 
cluded in tlie system of the N'alley of the .Mississippi 
had reached, in round numljcrs, 17,000,000. 

" Since that time some of tlie States and Territories 
have increased 100 per cent. Among these are M'y- 
omiug, Dakota, Minnesota and Kansas. The average 
increase in the last decade is somewhere in the 
iicigliborliood of forty percent. The principal in- 



crease has been along the northern belt. An esti- 
mate of the yearly progression in the percentage of 
population, with slight variations, will serve to giv« 
us a fair idea of tlie strength and volume of tliosa 
projecting lines of immigration that are infusing life 
and energy througliout the country. 

" This estimate of iiopulation will give an approxi 
mate density of Iwenly to the square mile. Looking 
at Eurojie we find that in England, for example, tlie 
density reaches near, or more than, 400 to the square 
mile. From this we can realize, to some extent, tlio 
latitude for expansion in the future population. 
There is room enough, without jostling, for 400,000,- 
000 of people. No provision has elsewhere been 
made for such an armj' of humanity to arise, and 
march from the eradicate the grave, with opportu- 
nities of happiness and contentment, and to unfold 
the inestimable benefits of a progressive civilization 
in tiie harmonious fraternity of a united and pros- 
perous brotherhood. 

" And in that multitudinous inarch, we surely need 
have no fear, if but a moderate degree of wisdom is 
shown in statesmanship, that the pauperism whicli 
has followed the struggling millions of Europe, shall 
be the heritage of our descendants, or that the rav- 
ages of famine shall ever be lecorded in the annals 
of our history. 

'•'The moral, physical and social characteristics of 
the people of this valley are distinctively marked. 
The various foreign infusions, intermixing and 
interweaving with the native population, have given 
improved blood, a more enduring muscular integu- 
ment, and lias strengthened the nerve liber. They 
are bold, active, energetic, acquisitive and progres- 
sive. The objective point of their aspirations may 
appear material, but they work on lines whose 
ultimate unites the material with the good and 
the beautiful. 

" During the last three decades they have accom- 
plished much by their labors. The portals of the 
valley have been throwni wide open ; the highways 
to the Pacific, the gull, the lakes and the East 
cleared, and the works of future greatness entered 
upon. An unrivaled internal commerce flourishes. 
A railroad system has been projected crossing the 
continent from east to west and from north to south, 
intei'sected by innumerable converging lines, whose 
termini on the oceans, the gulf and the northern 
boundary unite with the near and far-reaching 
commercial lines throughout the world. Its extreme 
limits east and west join with the stearsship lines 
that belt the globe from I'ckin to London, and from 
London to St. Louis and San Francisco. 

" The genius of the age already concei\es further 
lengthening lines of communication, connecting by 
commercial ties with Mexico and the nations of 
Central and South America, and onward to the 
ocean at the southernmost point of Cape Horn: 
while the skilled engineer already works success- 
fully in overcoming at the Delta the first and most 
formidable barrier to our inland sea. Nor is this 
all. The daring science of modern engineering, 
wliicli knows no such w(n"d as fail, proposes to con- 
nect the oceans by a canal at the Isthmus which 
shall dwarf the importance and the significani-e of 
the Suez, and to overleap the hitherto inaccessible 
divide liy lifting vessels of every tonnage securely 
from tlic l'acilicanddroi())ingllieni into the Atlantic. 

'•Nor does the review of their labor c-ease here. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



The telegi-.iph circles in all directions. Postal 
fa^-ilities, perfect in their iidaptation, reach every 
point of the land. Kducatiou is the governmental 
hirthright of every child. Free religion i.s recog- 
nized. .\ fearless and enlightened jjress disseminates 
the intellectual products of the woi'ld. Libraries 
are established. Schools of art and academies of 
science and universities are founded. Already is 
here raised the grain food for the nations. The 
h.irvest of last season exceeded in extent and yield 
any borne on the face of the earth; and, looking 
upon this immense product, as it sweeps out to 
foreign ports, ai-e -we not warranted in declaring 
that these people are now the owners of the pro- 
Ti!-ion marts and granaries of the world? Kor has 
cotton been dethroned. The .Vmerican staple still 
clothes the millions of Europe, while American 
beef has found a new and eternal market in Eng- 
land, and in the next ten years will inevitably, from 
its superior excellence and cheapness, build up an 
illimitable trade with other nations of tlie Eastern 
Hemisphere. The infancy of a manufacturing sys- 
tem is seen : and furnaces, rolling mills and foun- 
dries and machine shops produce a wide and 
diversified variety of articles indispensable to trade, 
rommei'ce and household economy. 

" Mines have been opened ; mines of iron and silver 
and gold, and delving therein, the child of poverty 
of yesterday has become the millionaire of to-day. 
The dream of the alchemist has been realized, and 
the famed wealth of Uio oriental prince recedes 
before the splendid possessions of a citizen of tlie 
modern El Dorado. In tliis how forcibly are we 
impressed witli De Tocquevillc's words: 'The Val- 
ley of the Mississippi is, upon the whole, tlie most 
magnificent dwelling-pkice prepared by (iod for 
man's abode.' 

' • I pause here in my review of what man has accom- 
plished with the elements contained in the Missis- 
sippi Valley. To advance futther in the details of 
his work is unnecessary to impress you with its 
extent and importance. It is the opening chapter 
of the grandest history written since the creation. 
It vibrates along the lines of thought in the majestic 
and heroic tones of an epic; and in its claims for 
honorable distinction and supremacy, it appej*te to 
the enlightened judgment of mankind. 

"But, notwithstanding what lias l)eeu accomplished 
by the people of this valley, they have before them 
a great work. The first chapter has been written, 
and they enter upon the second. Missouri is the 
center of the magBificent domain. The political 
divisions existing originate and foster a commend- 
able rivalry in tlie inarch of modern i>rogress, and 
tlie spirit and aspirations of the people of our State 
ai-e shown in this assemblage of lier representative 
men. It marks a new era. Slie is entitled to ascen- 
dancy among her sister States. Her position and 
her riches entitle her to it. The heart of the conti- 
nent, she receives and distributes tlirough coinmer- 
«ial arteries the products of this land, and from 
every mart, bazaar and port of the world. Let us 
here and now determine and pledge oui-selves to use 
every honorable means to place her in the position 
©f influence, grandeur and glory to which she is 
so justly entitled. It is unnecessary for me to sug- 
gest modes of actiomplislvment. 

" The representatives of the State, who have been 
•^»en to prepare articles upon various subjects 



selected, will cover every branch submitted to j'our 
consideration, and your deliberations will elicit 
evei-y suggestion to promote the good cause. 

" But in connection with my subject it is not out of 
place, but, on the contrary, is appropriate, for me to 
press upon you tbe importance of a persistent and 
determined effort to force the Government to im- 
prove the Mississippi Iliver, and so convert it into 
what it should be— the mighty inland sea of the 
nation. Our situation demands it. Tlie assistance 
should have been accorded long ago. Sectional 
reciprocity should have extended to us this right, 
and we can feel assured of soon gaining it, for, be- 
lieve me, the near future will sec the realm of polit- 
ical power transferred to its natural home in the 
Valley of the Great West. There never was— tliere 
never will be — a more splendid opportunity afforded 
to western statesmen tliaii to enforce this vital 
truth upon the people through the councils of the 
Government. The Mississippi belongs to the whole 
country. It is the heritage of a nation. It is the 
grand highway of free and united America. Nor 
has thei-e ever been a finer opportunity presented 
for a government to construct appropriate national 
works, guaranteeing more unrivaled blessings." 

" Tlie expenditure on our river of tlie inohev and 
labor that constructed those great highways lead- 
ing from the most distant parts of the Koman em- 
pire to its capital, or upon those huge aqueducts of 
the same period, or upon the gardens and palaces of 
Nineveh, or on the grand wall of China, the pyra- 
mids of Egypt, or the expenditure of a tithe as much 
as that wasted on the modern fortifications of 
Europe, would jewel our stream with magnificent 
ports, dot it witli costly arsenals of trade, control it 
with extended levees, and channel it to bear upon 
its bosom tlie outgoing and incoming commerce of 
the world, r 

" True to ourselves and earnest in our labors, the 
possibilities of the future are illimitable. The con- 
vulsions of civil war are stilled forever. The dead 
past is an eushrinement of memory. The recogni- 
tion is extant of the necessity of a united people. 
We can tolerate neither an Eastern, a Western, nor 
a Southern secession. The Government of our 
fathers in its just and equal distribution of State 
and National powers is acknowledged as essential 
for the permanence of our empire, and is it not pos- 
sible to develop a statemanship whicli can modify 
laws and constitutions to meet the requirements of 
expanding, progressive ideas, without illegal com- 
motion or revolutionary violence? Yes. And what 
then? The prophetic eye sees unfolded the vision 
of a marvelous civilization. A second chapter is 
recorded. No element of the human intellect but 
possesses its opportunity for exiieriment and ex- 
pansion. Broadening into an universal strength, 
it has triumphed over fear, bigotry and unauthorized 
power. Religion has universalized and taken unto 
herself not only art, but science and philosophy. 
Seats of learning contest in rivalry for supremacy 
with the time -honored institutions of the Old 
World. The pencil of the artist and the chisel of 
the sculptor are lipped with a genius "as fervid in 
its inspirations as that of any ancient, medieval or 
modern school. Manufactories for the supply of 
every possible want of man cover the land and 
swarm with skilled artisans. The Binningbams a»'l 
Sheffields, the Genevas, are rivaled by Western 



10 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



cities. Innumerable arches of rare architectunil 
■faeauty span tl>e highways to the ocean. Ship.s 
"wafting to and fi-o the rich argosies of a boundless 
commerce display from mast-heads, beneath the 
shadow of the great bridge, the flag of every nation. 
And on hill and valley, on mountain and river side, 
rise " cities and temples beyond the art of Phidias 
or Praxiteles, beyond the splendors of Babylon and 
Hecatompylos." And peerless amongst these, and 
of the world, stands St. Louis. And why not? Is 
not Paris, on the Seine, removed above the sea 



coast? Is not Loudon, on the Thames, far above 
Gravesend? and would St. Louis possess fewer 
advantages if the Jlississippi were improved as it 
could and should be? Ko! I proclaim it as no ideal 
boast, but with a confidence of realization as 
supreme as he who, years ago, said, "There is the 
East, there is India" — here is the center of the 
world's trade — here is the future metropolis of 
empire — in the favored child of the mighty valley 
of the Mississippi — the City of the Iron Crown!" 



Physical Northern Missouri. 



The geographical position may be defined as 
extending between the parallels 38" 40' and 40' 30' 
north latitude, and between pa/allels 13° 35' and 
18° 50' longitude west from Washington. 

It has an average width of about two hundred 
miles by a length north and south of about one 
hundred and ten mUes. 

It occupies vei'y nearly a central position with 
regard to the great American republic, being nearly 
equi-distant from the great oceans, Atlantic and 
Pacific, from the British possessions on the north 
and the Gulf of Mexico on the south. It is 
also situated half way between the two great 
mountain ranges of North America, the jVllegha- 
nies on the east and the Rocky Mountains on the 
west. 

Though some portions of northern Missouri are 
broken and hilly, there is nothing in this section 
which could properly be dignified with the appel- 
lation mountains. The sui'face of the country in the 
main may be designated as a plateau, gradually 
descending from the northand west, sloping toward 
the Mississippi on the east and toward the Missouri 
on the south. 

TIMBER AND PRAIRIE DIVISION. 

A general division of Missouri into prairie and 
timber land is sometimes made by drawing an 
imaginary line from the southeastern portion of 
Marion County to the southwestern corner of the 
State. On the west of this line the county is mostly 
prairie, while on the eastern side of it will in general 
be found the timber. 

This, of course, would throw North Missouri 
mostly in the prairie district. The natural division 
of land in Northern Missouri, generally speaking, 
would be into prairie and timber lands, the former 
largely predominating over the latter. In i-ound 
numbers, it might be said that the prairie occupies 
about three-fourths of the whole area, leaving about 
one-fourtli tijnber. An accurate line between tlie 
prairie and timber land cannot well be drawn, as in 
many instances the timber, especially along water 
courses, encroaches on the prairie, and anns of the 
prairie frequently are found extending into the 
timber country, while sometimes again small 
prairies are found in the midst of timbered country, 



spreading out their smooth, green surface of ver- 
dure like little inland seas or lakes. 

The timber land, occupying in round numbers 
about one -fourth of North Missouri, is found prin- 
cipally along the two great boundary rivers of the 
section covering the bold, picturesque river bluffs, 
forming a mammoth fringe for the grand plateau 
of the prairie land, ani permeating everj^where 
along the streams and valleys — it may be generally 
divided into upland and bbtjom timber, each pos- 
sessing its peculiar advantages. 

BENEATH THE SOILS. 

Underneath the soil of North Missouri is found 
principally the formation or system known to geol- 
ogists as the upper carboniferous or coal measures, 
and the lower carboniferous or mountain limestone, 
about in the proportion of five of the former and two 
of the latter. The qaternary, lower Silurian and de- 
ronian, are also represented to a very limited extent 
along the courses of the two great rivers forming 
the principal boundary lines of this section of coun- 
try. 

Of course, every variety of soil, both prairie and 
timber, and of every conceivable depth, is found 
above the geological formations. These soils are 
indicated, in a state of nature, as well by the growth 
of the grasses upon the surface of the prairie, as 
the growth of trees in the timbered sections, in- 
dicates the quality of the soil which nourishes their 
roots. Thus the crow-foot, the resin-weed and 
wild sorghum, evince rich fertility in prairie as 
plainly as the walnut, the hackberry, the elm and 
the hickory do in the timber. One of the finest 
bodies of prairie land in the world can be found in 
the chain of counties, extending along the Missouri 
River from Callaway all the way to Atchison, and in 
many sections reaching far back into the interior, 
through Boone, Howard, Cliariton, Carroll, Ray, 
Clay, I'latte, Buchanan and Holt. 

This chain includes also the rich river bottoms, 
bottom i)rairies, of St. Charles and Waren counties, 
as well as of some of the other counties first named, 
than which no more i)roductive land can be found 
in the known world. The drainage of this country 
in the main is excellent. The; soil is rich, quick and 
productive. The prairies yield magnificently of com 
and the smaller grains, and constitute the finest 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



II 



meadows in the world. In the timber is found also 
every variety of soil, from the rich hackberry and 
walnut growing land to the white oak ridges, and 
even the rocky points where the sturdy pine and 
cedar lind slender foothold for their intei-prising 
roots. But in the main the timber land of iforth 
Missouri is splendcd, the country well drained, the 
timber valuable, and the soil fertile and ))roductive. 
The climate of this wliole section of country is one 
(if unusual salubrity and healthfulness. 

CBOF PRODUCTIONS. 

The crops are reasonably line and remunerative. 
Corn is the largest staple, then wheat, oats, vya, 
liemp and tobacco in different localities are cultiva- 
ted with great success. 

Fruits are raised in great abundance, and in many 
instances are a source of great profit. Apples, 
peaches, pears, and all the small fruits are common 
everywhere. Indeed, the ap))le and peach crops of 
Xorth Missouri play no insiguiiicant part in the 
markets of the South and West, and grape culture, 
and wine making is growing in importance every 
year. 

The country is splendidly watered by numerous 
running streams, and where the land is broken, 
clear, gushing springs abound, aiding to constitute 
this section one of the finest in the world for stock- 
raising. 

The short liorns of Nortli Missouri are beginning 
to be known and prized in the markets of the world, 
and to-day, tlie farmers are reaping a handsome 
profit from the sale of fancy breeders throughout the 
South and West, which supply, it was formerly 
thought, could not be obtained, except by importa- 



tion from Kentucky, the Eastern States and even 
from "Europe. 

Fat cattle and sheep from this section are bought 
for shipment to Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia, 
and not unfrequently to Great Britain, and the 
horses, mules and hogs are not exceled by those of 
any market in the world. 

FUEL SUPPLY. 

As before stated, the geological substratum is to 
a great extent carboniferous — vast acres of coal, 
hidden beneath the surface, sufficient to furnish fuel 
that might warm the continent for untold centuries, 
and ensuring in the near future tliat Missouri will 
be the great manufacturing centre of the Union. 
For, aside from the fact that is now conceded, viz: 
that it is cheaper to bring the ore to the fuel than to 
transport fuel to the ore, in this State is a mineral 
wealth which must iu time, taken in connection 
with the inexhaustible coal fields, furnish occupa- 
tion for hundreds of thousands of operatives, and 
be the basis of a prosperity less glittering it may be, 
but more permanent and more exhaustless than the 
golden shores of the Pacific. 

North Missouri contains 44 of the 114 counties of 
the State— With a population in 1876 of 729,740, which 
the census of 1880 will doubtless show to be largely 
augmented. This population with a fair sprinkling 
of foreigners, is principally American born, repre- 
senting a large portion of the enterprise aud intel- 
ligence of older States. A population, enterprising, 
law-abiding and liberty loving — heterogeneous in 
origin, homogeneous in the noble purposes of build- 
ing up a home, a State and a society, second in no 
sense of the term to any other in Christendom. 



Physical Southera Missouri. 



Southern Missouri, or that portion of the State 
that lies south of the Missouri River, contains about 
three-fifths of the territory of the State, about 40,000 
square miles and about 25,000,000 acres. 

TIMBER AND PRAIRIE, 

A line drawn from Jefferson City (the capital and 
near the center of the State), soutli to the Arkansas 
line, will give a general idea of the division of tim- 
ber and prairie. The land east of tliis line, which 
includes to a large extent the metaliferous portions 
of the State, is very heavily timbered, while the 
area west of the line may be distinguished as the 
prairie country. Enough of timber, however, is 
found in this western division for all the purposes 
of fuel, fencing and building. The prairies are 
generally undulating, and vary in fertility with 
their location. They are now considered the most 
valuable agricultural lands in Southern Missouri. 
The ease with which they can be cultivated, through 
tlK introduction of labor-saving machinery, has 
given to them a marked preference over the tim- 
bered farms. Since the fires have been kept off and 
the land fenced in, the timber is gi-adually encroach- 
ing on the prairie. The grasses on these immense 
plains is still succulent and abundant, though some- 



what varying from their original species. The blue 
grass (poa pratensis) is rapidly invading the prai- 
ries, and this most valuable of all the grasses se«ms 
to increase in direct ratio with the feeding of 
stock and the trampling of the soil. The timber in 
Southern Missouri varies with the latitude. In the 
southeastern portion of the State the poplar, the 
sweet, black and yellow gum, the pine, the cypress, 
the birch, the beech and the tulip tree have their 
home, and one scarcely, if ever, found in the north- 
ern or western counties, but through the entire 
region of Southern Missouri. The forest trees are 
oak, walnut and hickory, elm, maple, ash and 
locust, Avith their varieties, cherry, Cottonwood, 
willow, persimmon, pecan, hackben-y, mulberry, 
box elder, sassafras growing to tree size, and in the 
southwest the chestnut and the chinquipin. Its 
shrubbery is the hazel, the sumac, the red bud, the 
wild rose and the honey suckle. Its wild fruits are 
the grape, the haw, mulberiy, blackben-yj sei-vice- 
berry, raspberry, huckleberry, hazel, walnut and 
luckory nuts, pecans, chestnuts, chinquipins, per- 
simmons, the wild crab apple, wild plums and the 
paw^jaw. Some of the timber in this region grows 
to a large size. Professor Swallow speaks of oaks 
known to be 26 feet in circumference and 90 feet 



12 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



high, Cottonwood 30 feet in circumference and 125 
feet high, sycamore 43 feet in circumference and 65 
feet high, cypress 29 feet in circumference and 130 
feet high, grape vines 33 inches m circumference 
and 160 feet long. The oak, walnut, ash, poplar, 
pine and the cottonwood and sycamore are the 
trees from which the timber in ordinary use is 
obtained. 

SOILS. 

Tlie variety of soils recognized by the State geo- 
logists varies with their location and in their con- 
.stituents. 

1. The alluvial soils of the rivers are composed 
chiefly of sand, lime and vegetable mould, and their 
■wonderful fertility is generally considered inde- 
structible. Under this head may be classed the 
swamp lands of Southeastern Missouri, which, in 
eight counties, by the records of the State Land 
affice, cover an extent of 1,855,616 acres, the larger 
part of which is susceptible of cultivation, and 
much of it rich as the valley of the Nile. 

These alluvial soils are generally devoted to the 
cultivation of corn, hemp, tobacco, Irish potatoes 
and hay. Wheat upon the virgin soil, oats, or 
barley would be apt to tumble or lodge. 

2. Another soil of great productiveness is found 
in the northwest counties and a part of the south- 
west counties of southern Missouri. It is usually 
of gently rolling prairie and is underlaid by the 
upper and middle coal measures. The agricultural 
products are corn, wheat, hay, oats, barley, potatoes, 
nay, almost any agricultural product of the State. 
As a consequence, cattle, hogs, mules, horses and 
sheep flourish here. This soil is black from the 
presence of lime in cjuantity, and if the limestone 
contains iron, the soil is i-ed or brown, but its pro- 
ductiveness is not thereby lost. 

3. Another distinct class of soils is found south of 
this region, and on a belt extending from the Ar- 
kansas line to the Missouri River. This class has a 
redish clay soil, is a fine corn and wheat country, 
admii-ably adapted to fruit and sheep culture. This 
soil is based on magnesian limestone and abounds 
ixteflne springs and heavy timber. It is generally 
more metaliferous than the soils above mentioned. 
For sheep culture it is unsurpassed. 

4. The last class of soils is that on lands elevated 
higher than any other parts of the State, being from 
1,200 to 1,500 feet above the level of the sea. It is 
underlaid by sandstones and magnesian limestones. 
Black oak, hickoi-y, pine and cedar flourish here, 
and the grape iii perfection. In its valleys and on 
some of its slopes the lands are very fertile, and yet 
in compensation for a less generous soil, Nature has 
given to this region a deposit of mines and metals 
that can stand the drain of the world's wants for 
hundreds of centuries. 

MINERALS. 

Of the metals of Southern Missouri, iron is the 
chief, the most abundant, and most valuable. It is 
found more or less in every county, sometimes in 
exhaustless (luantitics of the purest ore. The Iron 
Mountain is the largest exposure and the purest 
mass of iron known to the earth. It is idle to 
speculate upon the extent of this mountain and its 
neighbor, I'ilot Knob, and the adjacent hills. It is 
a question that many ages iu the future will not be 



able to solve, no matter how vast exploration and 
removal may draw upon its stores. Analysis shows 
a purity of sixty-five to sixty-nine per cent. 

Lead is found in Southeast, Central and Southwest 
■Missouri in large quantities. The report of the ninth 
cenlus (1870) made Missouri the second lead-pro- 
ducing State in the Union, Wisconsin ranking first. 
The tenth census (1880), now at hand, will })robably 
make the product of lead from Missouri as great as 
the aggregate product of all tJie other States. 

Zinc, next to iron, is the most generally diil'tised 
metallic ore. 

Copper, nickel, cobalt and tin are found, but not 
in such quantities as the above mentioned metaVa. 
Gold and silver are said to exist, but it is well, per- 
haps, for Missouri that they exist i7i quantities to* 
small to justify their exploration. 

MOUNTAINS. 

Properly speaking, there are no mountains in Mis- 
souri. The Ozark hills, sometimes called mountaina, 
are high and fertile table lands, elevated, at their 
greatest height, between 1,500 and 1,600 feet above 
the level of the sea, and have no points of assimila- 
tion to mountain ranges. They divide the water* 
flowing north into the Missouri River from tho»« 
that flow south into the Arkansas and other south- 
ern rivers. 

RIVKRS. 

The Missouri River, after coursing along the west- 
ern shore of Missouri to the mouth of the Kansas 
River, about 250 miles, flows throngh the State near 
its center, 400 miles to its confluence with the Mi.s- 
sissippi River. In conjunction with this river that 
has already flowed along the eastern boundary line 
of Noi'theast Missoui'i, it washes the eastern banks 
of Southern Missouri, a dfetance of 300 miles. 

The other navigable rivers of Southern Missouri 
are the Osage, Gasconade, Lamine, and the White 
River, of the Southwest. Small rivers, creeks, and 
branches seem, by a kind Providence, to be distrib- 
uted over the land with a view to an abundance of 
water, an eff'ectual drainage, and mill sites to any 
extent of demand for many years to come. 

Springs of purest water exist in abnnaance 
thi'oughout Southern Missouri, and a great variety 
of mineral waters. Some of these springs are noted 
for the vast volume of water that they ))our out. One, 
called Bryce's Spring, on theNiangua, is said to flow 
away a rapid river, forty-two yards in width, and to 
discharge 10,000,000 of cubic feet every day. Its tem- 
perature is 60 ' Fahrenheit. Petroleum springs aro 
beginning to manifest themselves, but the oil from 
them has not yet entered into the commercial pro- 
ducts of Southei'n Missouri. Salt springs are found 
'in several counties. 

CLAYS. 

Fire clay, potter's clay, kaolin (poi-celain clay), 
sandstone, clean and free from impurities and well 
adapted for glass-making (which industry is rapidly 
assuming a national importance), hydraulic lime, 
polishing stone (sometimes called bath brick), grind- 
stones, millstones, slates and marbles (the last of 
fine quality), building stone of red and gray granite, 
lithographic limestone, are among the elements 9t 
future wealth to the people of this State. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



13 



climate; 

The climate of Southern Missouri is a dry one. In 
the spring heavy rains fall, and in the latter part of 
that season the State is visited by continuous show- 
ers, known to farmers as " the long season in May," 
the advent of which is warmly wel(;oined by the 
tobacco planter, and by those whose providence in 
early planting and plowing lias prepared the corn 
crop for this beneficent season. In .June summer 
showers fall, but not in excess, seldom lasting longer 
than a few hours. The average rainfall in Southern 
Missouri is forty-one inches, in the southeast larger, 
in the northwest less. The extremes for thirty-four 
years are as low as twenty-flve inches, and as high 
as sixty-eight. Whenever the State suffers from 
such unusual seasons, there is a compensation in 
the fact that, of the two great crops of wheat and 
corn, while one maybe injured the other is bene- 
fited, so that no vital injury to both food crops of 
the State, at the same time, is likely to occur. The 
rains come, generally, from the southwest, and there 
can be no material change in the climate of Southern 
Missouri as long as the trade winds and the Gulf of 
Mexico shall create and maintain the grand mission 
of evaporation and precipitation. The amount of 
fair weather in Southern Missouri is very large, and. 
while a few of the summer days are excessively hot, 
an electrical disturbance generally occurs, and a 
thunder-storm and a copious shower bring them a 
refreshing change of temperature. Killing frosts 
occur on an average on the 10th of October, and late 
frosts on the 7th of April, in Southern Missouri. 
Wheat is harvested, on an average, about the 20th of 
June ; in the extreme southeast a little earlier. The 
peach tree blooms about the 1st of .\pril. Snow very 
rarely falls to any depth, and generally disappears 
in a day or two. The average depth is two and one- 
third inches. Ice cannot always be depended on as 



a crop. In the northwest counties it does not often 
fail. Iri the southern counties it is rare that two 
successive crops are ©btained. While the thermom- 
eter has shown an extreme of 23^ below zero, yet, 
generally, the winters are short and pleasant, and 
old farmers will remember several winters in whicli 
plowing could be done on almost every day of the 
season. With such a climate the practical farmer 
can very readily estimate for himself the extent of 
winter feeding. 

The autumn in Southern Missouri — nay, in the 
whole State — is the most beautiful season known to 
the earth. From the 1st of October to the 8th or 
10th of January, with one exception, occurring 
about the middle of November, lasting only a few 
days, and called by the Indians and early settlers 
" squaw winter," there is no such continuous mag- 
nificence of climate on the face of the globe. The 
Indian summer has fairly set in, the forests have put 
on their robes of varied and dazzling colors. Mias- 
matic fevers have disapi)eared with the first frost; 
the husbandman dreads no storm from an almost 
cloudless sky upon his ungathered fall crops, and 
upon his busy preparation for the next year's har- 
vests, and all animal nature seems to revel in tlie 
luxury of an out-of-door life, and of a health-giving 
atmosphere. 

Such to-day, to some extent, is the physical con- 
dition of Southern Missouri. A region that con- 
tains more varied mineral wealth than any other 
known land of like dimensions upon the globe; 
that basks in a climate (Jistinguished for its mild 
and health-giving influences; that reposes like an 
infant in the giant arms of the largest rivers of the 
continent; that offers to a population many-fold 
its present numbex's a soil exhaustless in its 
fertility, and ready to yield from its beneficent 
bosom every product that is necessary for the sup- 
port of human life. 



The Lowlands of the Southeast. 



The lowlands of Southeast Missouri embrace the 
northern half of the great alluvial region extending 
along the Mississippi River from Cape Girardeau, 
in Missouri, to Helena, in Arkansas, a distance of 
about four hundred miles, by river. The portion of 
this lowland region situated in Southeast Missouri 
will not embrace much less than an area of 3,000 
square miles. 

Out of it have ueen carved the counties of Pem- 
iscot, New Madrid, Dunklin, Mississippi, Scott and 
Stoddard, and the southern portions of the counties 
of Butler, Wayne, Bollinger and Cape Girardeau, 
which consiitute the so-called "swamp counties" 
of Missouri. No jjortion of the State is less known 
or less appreciated than this j-egion. Many intelli- 
gent persons consider it all subject to annual over- 
flow, an extensive swamp, an immense bog, while 
others suppose that the country is full of great 
stagnant lagoons, bayous and ponds, and the atmos- 
phere filled with deadly malarial fevers. Such 
ideAs of the " lowlands of Southeast Missouri " ai-e 
fanf Ifnl, erroneous and unjust. 



The country is as undulating as the great prairies 
of Illinois. After every rain the water rapidly 
drains away. Covered with the immense timber 
found in these Southeast Missouri bottoms the 
prairies of Illinois would be uninhabitable. Many- 
ridges, from ten to fifieen feet high, of marvelou.'? 
fertility, run, generally in a north and south direc- 
tion, through this region. 

These "ridges" are of various extent and eleva- 
tion. There is one from two to three miles wide 
and thirty-five miles long, and one, running through 
Stoddard and Dunklin Counties, about eighty or 
ninety miles, on which is situated the flourishing 
city of Charleston. 

There are, rising in this extensive lowland region, 
like islands, many, so-called, " hills," in Stoddard 
County, each ranging from about ten to twenty-five 
miles in circumference. While here and there 
hillocks like "Bird's Island," embracing several 
hundred acres, or solitary hills, like the " Lost Hill," 
rise up, almost perpendicular cliffs, to an altitude 



14 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



of from one to two hundred rect, over the surround- 
ing bottoms. 

It is traversed by the St. Francois, the Castor, the 
"Whitewater, the Black, the Little Black, and other 
smaller rivers, and many creeks, all of which have 
ample fall, and, where not obstructed by decayed 
timber and rafts, cany away the water rapidly, ex- 
cept in a few veiy low portions of the country, 
which can be easily drained. 

A portion of these low lands are subject to occa- 
sional ovcrllows from the Mississippi River. But 
these overliows are far less frequent than is gener- 
ally thought. Nor is the area of this overflow ex- 
tensive. 

FERTILITY OF SOILS. 

The soil of these lowlands is of surpassing fertUity. 
It is mainly a rich, sandy, vegetable humus, easily 
cultivated, and yielding enormous crops of corn, 
wheat, tobacco, cotton, potatoes, stockpeas, grass, 
and, in short, every cereal and vegetable that grows 
in the temperate zone. A total failure of crops is 
unknown. Sometimes, but rarely, a crop may fall 
short, but a total failure on account of drought, or 
tempest, or grasshoppers, or other insects, never 
occurs in this favored region. The season being 
more advanced, the farmers of the lowlands can 
ship and sell their crops earlier than their brethren 
farther north, and thus receive better prices. The 
Mississippi, the great natural highway to the ocean, 
is not far off, and assures them cheap transporta- 
tion. 

As a stock country this section of the State can 
not be suii^assed. The wintei-s are mild and short. 
Farmers feed their stock only during a short portion 
©I the year, and many do not feed their stock at any 
time, because, at all seasons, cattle and horses find 
wild grass and cane in the range in the great bot- 
toms, still untouched by the hand of man. Great 
herds of hogs grow fat in these bottoms without 
ever being fed on corn. Such persons as expect to 
devote themselves to stock-raising can indeed find 
no better locality. 

THE TIMBER. 

One great obstacle to the increase of population in 
these lowlands, heretofore, has been the immense 



amount of timber necessary to be cleared out of the 
way before a farm could be opened. 

But this timber, once a hindrance to progress, i.s 
now becoming valuable. Saw mills are found in 
every neighborhood. It has long been known that 
the timber of the Southeast lo-wlands is not sur- 
passed anywhere in the United States. Oak, of 
every kind, hickory, walnut, ash, beach, poplar, soft 
and hard maple, cypress, sycamore, Cottonwood, 
white, black and yellow gum, catalpa, clierry, mul- 
beiTv, sassafras, and other varieties of timber can be 
found in great quantities, and attain immense size. 

Large bodies of these great forests have been 
opened by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern 
Railway; and they have been penetrated in various 
directions by other roads, now being pushed rapidly 
to completion. These railways wUl serve to de- 
velop the vast, untouched and unrivaled timber 
resources of the lowlands, and will become the 
great lumber carrying roads of the country, while 
they will traverse one of the best and most produc- 
tive agricultural regions of the world. 

HEALTHFULNESS. 

On the score of health much misapprehension 
exists in the minds of intelligent people. The coun- 
try is subject to the diseases that generally prevail 
in the Mississippi Valley. Its general health is not 
any better nor any worse than in the same latitude 
in the lowlands of Tennessee, Kentucky, or South- 
ern Illinois. 

That this is true is clearly illustrated by the rapid 
growth and flourishing condition of its many towns 
and cities, and by the great increase of population 
and production in this entire region within the last 
decade, as will be shown by returns of the census 
of 1880. 

CHEAP LANDS. 

The price of land in this lowland region is as yet 
generally very low. Of course in some localities 
the price of land is higher than elsewhere, but the 
average price is very low. Many hundred thousand 
acres are still for sale at but little more than one 
dollar and a quarter an acre, and much land can be 
bought for less. 



The Climate. 



The climate of a countiy is intimately connected 
with the well being of its inhabitants, and is, 
indeed, the most essential element of this well 
being which Nature can grant them; so that the 
consideration of the climatic conditions .becomes 
of the first importance in the selection of a country 
which is to become the home of our families. 

Missouri lies almost in the center of the Atlantic 
portion of the North American continent. It is 
therefore essentially an inland State, with all the 
advantages and disadvantages of such an inland— 
or, as it is scientifically termed,a continental climate. 
Two great rivers, the Mississippi on llie eastern 
border and the Missouri through the center of the 



State, and their numerous affluents favorably modify 
this condition. 

The siu-face of the country is a rolling one, more 
broken or hilly in the southei-n half of the State ; 
more level in the north and northwest. Its eleva- 
tion above the ocean vai-ies from 300 to 400 feet in 
the southeastern portion of the State to 1,200 and 
1,600 in the southwest. The watershed of the Ozark 
Hills, passing through the southern part of the 
State from northeast to southwest, elevated from 
,500 to 800 feet above the adjacent regions, diversiflea 
the aspect of the country without exerting a dom- 
inant influence on its climate. • ^ 

The State is situated just on the limits of the 



Hand^Book of Missouri. 



15 



wooded portion of the Mississippi Valley and of the 
western prairie country, and partakes of both con- 
ditions. There are woods in abundance and prairie 
enough, and in a considerable portion of the State a 
useful mixture of both to suit the wishes of the hus- 
bandman. 

Intimately connected with the geographical posi- 
tion and with the configuration of the country are its 
METEOKOLOGICAL CONDITIONS. 

And here the continental character of the climate 
becomes obvious in the extremes of temperature 
and of moisture, and in the sudden changes to 
which it is liable. 

Accurate and long continued meteorological ob- 
servations have only been made in St. Louis, but 
lately Professor Nipher, under the auspices of 
Washington University, has, with the aid of numer- 
ous zealous observers, established a chain of me- 
teorological stations over a great part of the State, 
which will in time permit us to ascertain most 
accurately the meteorology of the whole State. 
Until such knowledge is reached we consider the 
results obtained at St. Louis as an average for the 
whole or at least for the eastern half of the State 
will not go far amiss. 

The mean annual temperature is about 55 de- 
grees, but it varies in ditferent years from 53 to 58 
degrees. The mean winter temperature is 33 de- 
crees, varying between 26 in the coldest and 40 in 
the mildest winters. The mean temperature of 
•oamer is 76 degrees, oscillating in different years 
between 72 as the coolest and 80 degrees as the 
warmest summers. 

But these means alone give no proper apprecia- 
tion of the temperatures to which the inhabitants 
are subjected, unless the extremes are also con- 
sidered. In some seasons the temperature scarcely 
falls below zero, nor does it rise above 96 degrees, 
but in others we have experienced a frost of 20 to 
24 degrees below zero, and a heat of 100 to 104 
degrees above that point. These are extremes that 
do not often occur, and do not last long, but they 
must be taken into considei-ation in studying the 
climate. In tlie western and northwestern parts of 
the State the extremes of the winter temperature 
are even greater. 

THE DAILY CHANGES QP TEMPERATURE 

are ordinarily not more than 20^ in fair days ; but 
they not rarely reach 30 and even 40=, and have been 
known to be as great as .56= within twenty-four 
hours; but these ai-e rare exceptions. In this lati- 
tude, and through a great part of the State, the 
winters are variable, cold spells alternating with 
mild and open weather. This variability is still 
more remarkable in the spi-ing. There are in some 
years very early springs, and in others very late 
ones; and in the early springs and with an early 
development of vegetation sometimes late and 
destructive frosts occur, so that the fruit crops and 
-even agricultural crops suffer. 

The rivers of the State, coming as they do from 
the norh and northwest, bring down a great deal of 
cold water and ice, and they are apt to congeal 
more readily than local influences would warrant. 
In some seasons they iire bridged over firmly, and 
are passable for the heaviest teams, often only for a 
week or two, but occasionally for fully a month. In 



other seasons the rivers are not fro?;en over and 
navigation, at least of the Mississippi, auflost unin- 
terrupted. 

The second great meteorological element of the 
climatic condition of the country is its humidity, 
the amount of rain and sno^T which falls within the 
year, and its distribution in the different seasons. 
In St. Louis, the average annual rainfall is about 
forty-one inches, but it varies in different years 
between twenty-five and fifty-five inches, and has 
in a single instance reached even sixty-eight 
inches. It is less in winter, about seven inches, 
and highest in summer, on an average thirteen 
inches, but the rainy season, if it be permitted to 
speak of such an one, occurs usually at the end of 
spring and beginning of summer, say from the end 
of April to the beginning of July. But even this in 
not constant. In this season also the greatest 
number of thunderstorms occur. 

THE AMOUNT OF RAIN 
seems large compared with other temperate coun- 
tries, but, notwithstanding this, the climate is a dry 
one, for the most abundant rains fall in a very short 
time, and clear skies are the rule and cloudy or over- 
cast heavens the exception, especially in the summer 
and autumnal months, and evaporation is rapid, so 
that the dew point is a high one. Snow falls in all 
parts of the State, but it is rarely heavy and does 
not cover the gTOund long, so that the winter crops 
do not derive much useful protection from it. 

The third important element of the climate are 
the winds. The south and southeast winds are the 
prevailing ones, especially in the warmer seasons ; 
in winter they are as often west and northwest 
winds; these winds are usually brisk, but rarely 
very high ; but occasionally tornadoes are formed 
and devastate narrow strips of country, invariably 
taking a southwest to northeast course. 

The clearness of the sky is another condition of 
this climate,which maybe considered of the greatest 
importance for the well being of the inhabitants. 
There is, through the summer, and the autumn, 
rarely a day without some sunshine, and in other 
seasons rarely three days i^ass without some break 
in the clouds ; a continuation of a week's uninter- 
rupted gloomy weather is a great rarity, even in the 
most gloomy winter months, and if any meteorolog- 
ical condition has a happ}' influence on human well 
being, it is this prevailing clearness of the sky, 
temjjered with moderate breezes and light clouds. 

The natural, as well as the cultivated, products of 
the soil- best attest the favorable influence of our 
climate on organized life. Deciduous woods cover 
the greater part of the State ; pine timber is found 
in the siliceous soils of the Ozark region; westward 
and northwestward a prairie country prevails; 
southeast, in the fertile low lands of the Mississippi, 
cotton is cultivated; throughout the State wheat 
and corn are tlfB staple products, and in the central 
parts hemp and tobacco are the most important 
crops. 

Thus, the climate and conditions of Missouri are 
very favorable for the prosperity of the human 
race ; the drawbacks, consisting in the sometimes 
extreme temperatures, are counterbalanced by 
great advantages, and a great and happy community 
will enjoy the benefits a bounteous nature has so 
generously lavished upon the entire State. 



16 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



Health. 



That public prospei-ity and happiness depend in 
no email degi-ee upon public health, no intelligent 
person will deny. Hygiene has become a question 
of political economy, and in some counti-ies almost 
a qitestion of national perpetuity. Great has been 
the talent, admirable the perseverance, and marvel- 
ous the fertility of resource devoted to its study, 
and most zealous has been the patient, unselfish 
toil to discover the causes of disease ; but the prac- 
tical value of the truth.s thus established have not 
attracted the attention, nor achieved the place in 
public estimation they merit. 

Throughout the length and breadth of the civil- 
ized world wherever the aid of sanitary measures 
have been efficiently invoked, ample returns have 
rewarded the labor. The death rate in London has 
been reduced from 42 to 21 per thousand, in Paris 
from 39 to 21. In Massachusetts it has been re- 
duced throughout the State and in St. Louis it has 
been reduced during the last ten years over fifty 
per cent. 

Indeed, pestilence, epidemics, and all kinds of 
fatal contagion or infection can no longer be re- 
garded as the inexorable foes of human life, decreed 
to afflict mankind regardless of any effort man may 
put forth to mitigate or prevent their fatal operation ; 
for it is proved beyond cavil, that in these matters, 
he is mainly the arbitrator of his own fate; that 
he can predict and that he can deal with Qiem. 

NATURALLY HEALTHY. 

Disregardful of these facts the legislator-s of Mis- 
souri have given the State no systematic code of 
sanitary laws, and thea-e is, consequently, no State 
Board of health. The immunity enjoyed from dis- 
ease is therefore solely due to the natural salubrity 
of the climate. If the public health of Missouri is 
compared with that of Massachusetts, one of the 
oldest, wealthiest, most intelligent, and best organ- 
ized States in the I'^nion, where sanitai-y improve- 
ment has been scientifically and energetically 
prosecuted under State authority for several years, 
and in whicli, too, it has already done much to 
improve the public health. It will be seen that this 
State is much wealthier than her older sister in all 
the benefits that acci-ue from public salubrity. 

In 1870, Missouri had a population of 1,721,^95, 
and there were during that year 27,982 deaths from all 
causes. A mortality rate equivalent to 1.6:5 per 
eent. of the population. 

Massachusetts had a population of l,457,i')l and 
there were during the same period 25,859 deatlis from 
all causes. A mortality equal to 1.77 per cent, of the 
population. 

It thus appears, if the calculation is made and 
the relative proportion between the populations and 
the death rates of the two States maintained, that 
vital secui'ity is greater in Missouri, as compared 
with Massachusetts, to an extent, represented by 
the annual saving of 2,474 lives, but these figures 
fail to denote the stricken grief, the anxiety and the 
cost of sickness, or the value of wasted health; 
these are advantages that neither language or sym- 
bols can adequately portray. 



Ko successful effort has y>et been made to deter- 
mine, by actual registration, the precise sickness — 
rate of communities. The many obstacles in the 
way of even a rea.sonable approach to accuracy in 
the performance of this important and interesting 
task, lias liitherto discouraged or defeated such at- 
tempts. It is, however, estimated from tlie most 
trustworthy data, that two i)ersons are constantly 
sick for every one that dies : or, in other words, that 
every death implies a total average of 730 days 
sickness. It is also estimated that each person 
loses, on an average, nineteen to twenty days, an- 
nually, by sickness; and Dr. Jarvis, has shown from 
the experience of health-assurance companies in 
this country, that the sickness rale is generally 
greater than these figures, based on European ex- 
perience, indicate. 

Authentic reports to the Health Board of St. Louis 
have shown that the annual sickness rate of the 
city of St. Louis is about seventeen and a half days 
to each member of the population. Dr. Boardman, 
of Boston, has ascertained the sickness rate of the 
city of Boston to be about twenty-four days of 
annual sickness to each individual. The general 
correctness of these conclusions are further sub- 
stantiated by army statistics. Dr. Playfair, of En- 
gland, after careful inquiry, computed the ratio of 
one death to twenty-eight cases of sickness in a 
mixed jiopulation. 

From the estimate, then, on the basis ])ointed out, 
the relative 

VALLK TO THE PEOPLB 

of the .sanitary conditions that jirevail in Missouri 
and in Massachusetts, since every death represents 
two cases of continued sickness, and a loss of 730 
days by si(;kness, incapacitating for labor for each 
death that occurs in the community, the value to the 
people of Missouri, of the good health they enjoy, as 
compared with tlie health enjoyed by the people of 
Massachusetts, may be stated, in round numbers, as 
2,474 lives saved annuallj-, 4,948 continuous cases of 
illness obviated, and 69,272 temporary attacks of ill- 
ness prevented ; while the material resources of the 
community are annually augmented and sti-ength- 
encd l)y the added wealth of l,80('i,020 days, or over 
492 years of serviceable labor. It is not unfair to 
assume, that every one of these days indicates a 
profit in wealth produced and money earned, by the 
saving of time, the cost of medicine and medical 
attention, and the other unavoidable ex|)enses of 
sickness, equivalent to at least fifty cents per day. 
If this be a fair presumption, the health enjoyed by 
the peoi)le of Missouri, estimated on the basis pro- 
posed, is worth to tlieni annually over $90,300. This 
yearly accumulation is no mean addition to the 
wealth of the State, and serves in some measure to 
indicate monetary value to communities of good 
health. The hugeness of the sums may surprise 
those who have paid little attention to snch matters, 
and possibly excite incredulity, but the calculations 
are founded on principles that have stood the test 
of examination and re-exanuuation by the most 
skillful experts, and that are generally admitted to 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



17 



be the most reliable science can furnish. It is not 
our purpose to draw invidious distinctions; but the 
Rf-leotion was made because it is commonly sup- 
posed that youns States are not so healthful as the 
older ones, and because it illustrates the native 
ealubrity of the western climate. 

MaasachuHotts is one of the extreme northern 
Btatee. If the comparison were extended to the 
f»oath, and included the State of Louisiana, the con- 



trast in favor *of Missouri would be still more 
striking. . 

Ulessed as tlie State is, with excellent natural 
drainage, an equaljle temperature, pure water, 
cheap food, abundant and remunerative labor for 
all classes, low rents, and room ample enough to 
permit isolated tenements even in the most popu- 
lous cities ; all ni the natural requisites of good 
health are combined. 



Soils. 



The first subdivision of soils in Missouri is known 
as bottom lands and uplands; but their <}ualily is 
not therel)y siifliciently indicated. Anothei- division 
which especially distinguishes the State, is that ex- 
hibited by the prairies and timbered lands, between 
whi(;h it is nearly divided. Each division contains 
soils of all grades of productiveness. 

liisecting the State by a line drawn from the city 
of Hannibal, on the Mississippi Kiver, to its south- 
west corner, the half lying to the north and west of 
this line, may he descrihed as the ])raii'ie region of 
the State, with the rare advantage tliat every county 
is bountifully sui)plied with timber and with rivers 
and smaller streams of watei-. 'J'hat which lies east 
and south of the bisecting line is tin; timbered or 
forest section, in which are found numerous i)rairies 
of greater or less e^ctent. 

The prairie lands are again divided into bottom 
and upland pj'airies. The bottom prairies <;losely 
resemble in soil the x-iver bottoms. In a certain 
sense, the fonnation is identical ; each came from 
ac(;retions, one from the rivers and the other from 
the higher or upland prairies. The marl formation 
is the foundation of both, and in both it is deejily 
buried under the modern alluvium. They owe their 
extraordinary fertility and inexhaustible produc- 
tiveness to a borrowed wealth, which C/ame to them 
in endless supply from the loosened soils of the 
higher lands by means of overflow and abundant 
rains. The river bottoms are generally bounded by 
timbered or blutf lands; occasionally they extend, 
by gentle swells, into prairie bottoms, whi(5h occupy 
a higher level and are often grand and sublime in 
their vast extent. Undulating or rolling, like waves, 
in their endless succession, the upland prairies 
often appear as limitless as the sea, and present the 
appearance of the ocean when subsiding from the 
effects of a storm. Alike, they are the sources of 
enonnous agricultural wealth, and are subjects of 
never failing interest and atti-action to the agricul- 
turist, who well knows with what ease they are 
cultivated and how gratefully they reward his 
labor. The bottoms of the other rivers and sti-eams 
arc distributed over every portion of the state, and 
are similar iu formation and soil lo those of the 
gi-eat rivers. 

Arbor culture on a lai'ge scale is now unnecessary, 
in Missouri, for the prairie country is quite well 
M!ppli<'d with newly-grown timber. The line forests 



of the southern and eastern parts of the State 
furnish excellent timbers for the farmers' purposes 
and the arts, while they may be sufficiently ))re- 
served to ])rotect the soils, fruits and gi-asses from 
extreme weather, and continue to afford fine pas- 
tures for large numbers of cattle, horses and sheep, 
which are permitted to go at large with slight atten- 
tion. 

In this article space is wanting to minutely 
describe and classify the soils of Missouri, and 
perhaps the best guide will be to give a general de- 
scription (according to a method of classification 
adopted by Prof. Swallow, Dean of the Missouri 
.\gricultural College, from whose writings much 
information given in this chapter has been taken), 
as defined by forest, prairie and alluvial lands, in- 
dicating their great variety by the growth of timber 
of the forests and the grasses and plants of the 
prairie. Those seeking homes in IMissoui-i will find 
it a reliable, if not an uncn-ring, rule in the selection 
of lands. 

SOIL CLASSIFICATIONS. 

The hackberry lands are (irst in fertility and pro- 
ductiveness. Upon these lands also grow elm, wild 
cherry, honey locust, hickory, white, black, burr and 
chestnut oaks, black and white walnut, mulberry, 
linden, ash, poplar, catalpa, sassafras and maple. 
The prairie soils of about the same quality, if not 
identical, are known as crow-foot lands, so-called 
from a species of weed found upon them, and these 
two soils genei-allyjoin each other where the timber 
and prairie lands meet. Both rest upon a bed of 
fine silicious marls, and even under most exhaustive 
tillage will prove jjerpetually fertile. They cover 
more than seven million acres of land. On this 
soil white oaks have been found twenty-nine feet iu 
circumference and one hundred feet high; linden, 
twenty-three feet in cir(;umfei-ence and quite as 
lofty; the burr oak and sycamore grow still larger. 
Prairie grasses, on the crow-foot lands, grow very 
rank and tall, and, by the old settlers, were said to 
entirely conceal herds of cattle from the view. 
These lands alone are cai)able of sustaining a pop- 
ulation greater than that now occupying the State 
of Missouri. 

The elm lands, whose name is derived from the 
American elm, which here grows magnificently, are 
scarcely inferior to the liackberry lands, and possess 



Hand-Book of iMissouRi. 



very nearly the same growth of other timber. The 
f'oil has about the same properties, except that the 
sand is finer and the claymore abundant. The same 
quality of soil appears in the prairie known as the 
resin-weed lands. 

Next in order are liickory lands, with a growth of 
white and shell -bark hickory, black, scarlet, and 
laurel oaks, sugar maple, persimmon, and the haw, 
red-bud and crab-apple trees of smaller growth. In 
some portions of the State the tulip tree, beech and 
black gum grow on lands of the same quality. Large 
areas of prairie in the northeast and southwest have 
soils of nearly the same quality, called mulatto soils. 
There is also a soil lying upon the red clays of South- 
ern Missouri similar to the above. These hickory 
lands, and those described as assimilating to them, 
are highly esteei#ed by farmers for the culture of 
corn, wheat and other cereals. They are admirably 
adapted to the cultivation of fruits, and their blue 
grass pastures are equal to any in the State. Their 
area may be fairly estimated at 6,000,000 of acres. 

The magnesian limestone soils extend from Calla- 
way County south to the Arkansas line, and from 
Jefferson west to Polk County, an area of about 10,- 
000,000 of acres. These soils are dark, warm, light 
and very productive. They produce black and white 
walnut, black gum, white and Mhahoo elms, sugar 
maple, honey locust, mulbeiry, chestnut, post, black, 
laurel, scarlet and Spanish oaks, persimmon, blue 
ash and many trees of smaller growth. They cover 
all the country underlaid by the magnesian lime- 
stone series, but are inconvenient for ordinary till- 
age when they occupy the hillsides or narrow val- 
leys. Among the most fertile soils in the State, they 
produce fine crops of all tlie staples, and thrifty and 
productive fruit trees and grape vines evince their 
extraordinary adaptation and fitness for culture of 
grape and other fruits. Large, bold springs of 
limpid, i)ure and cool waters gusli from every hill- 
Bide and flow away in bright streams, giving beauty 
and attraction to tlie magnificent forests of the elm, 
the oak, the mulberry and the buckeye, which often 
adorn their borders. Tlie mining regions embraced 
in this division of the soils, are thus supplied with 
vast agricultural wealth, ajid a large mining, pastoral 
and agriciiltural population may here be In-ouglit to- 
gether in relations scar(;ely to be found in any other 
country in the world. Blue grass and other succu- 
lent and nutritious grasses grow luxuriantly, even 
on the ridges and hillsides of the upland foi-ests, in 
almost every portion of Southern Missouri. Located 
in the midst of a temperate and charming cliniate, 
with its fountains and streams, its valleys and ele- 
vated lands will attract and delight, sooner or later, 
vast populations. 

On the ridges, where the lighter materials of the 
eoil have been washed away, or were originally 



wanting, white oak lands are to be found, the oakrt 
accompanied by shell -bark and black hickory, and 
trees and shrubs of smaller growth. While the 
surface soil is not so rich as the hickory lands, the 
subsoil is quite as good, and the land may be greatly 
improved by turning the subsoil to the surface. 
These produce superior wheat, good corn, aud a 
very fine quality of tobacco. On these lands fruiis 
are abundant and a sure crop. They embrace about 
one and a half million of acres. 

Post Oak Lands have about the same growth as 
the white oak lands, and produce good crops of the 
staples of the country, and yield the best tobacco in 
the West. Fruits of all kinds excel on this soil. 
These lands require deep culture. 

The Black Jack Lands occupy the high flint ridges 
\inderlaid with hornstoneand sandstone, and under 
these conditions are considered the poorest in the 
State, except forpastures and vineyai-ds. The pres- 
ence, however, of black-jack on other lands does 
not indicate thin or poor lands. 

Pine lands are extensive, embracing about two 
millions of acres. The pines (pinus mitis, yellow 
pine), grow to great size, and furnish immense sup- 
plies of marketable lumber. They are accompan- 
ied by heavy growths of oak, which takes the coun- 
try as successor to the pine. The soil is sa;idy, is 
adapted to small grains and grasses, and carries 
fertilizers well. 

The bottom lands of tlie Soutlieast are noM- being 
rapidly reduced to cultivation In' the common effort 
of the lumberman and settler. A more extensive 
system of scientific; drainage is now authorized by 
the State, and effective measures are determined 
upon. They are of the hackberry variety of soils, 
and bear the heaviest of timber. The strength of 
soils is such as to produce great crops with regular- 
ity, J) roved in many fields by more than fifty years 
of cultivation without rotation of crops. 

The tillable soil of Missouri, especially adapted to 
cultivation and to the most varied agriculture, is of 
gi'eat variety' and excellence. Its rare ingredients 
are seldom found in the same combination. In the 
most hilly and broken ])ortions of the State are rich 
valleys ; tliose unfit for ('ultivation are covered with 
valuable timber. More than two millions of acres 
of Government land remains undisposed of ; and, 
while the best of these lands have been culled, 
small and very valiTable tracts may be entered un- 
der the homestead and pre-emption laws. The 
railroad companies still own vast quantities of land, 
and those belonging to the Agricultural College can 
be obtained at low rates. In every county in the 
State farms and unimproved lands can be purchased 
at lower prices than have been known for twenty 
years. 



Agricultural Capabilities. 



Ko State in the Union offers sucli manifold in- 
ducements to the immigrant who desires to follow 
agricultural pursuits. Missouri is central in point 
of latitude, thus avoiding the long, cold winters of 
the North, as well as the dry, hot summers of the 



South. It affords a great diversity o£ pursuits to 
the tiller of the soil — greater than almost any other 
State. All the cereals are grown in the greatest 
perfection, and yield as largely as in any other 
State. The wheat grown in Missouri makes the 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



19 



best flour, and is eagerly sought in European mar- 
kets. Tf wheat is properly sown in fair Missouri 
soil, the yield ought to be, in an average year, thirty 
bushels per acre, and many farmers frequently aver- 
age that on their entire crop. 

VEKSATILITY OF PRODUCTION. 

In no State is maize or Indian corn more at home, 
and this is one of the most profltable crops to the 
farmer. Its yield is from forty to eighty bushels per 
acre, depending upon the soil and culture given it. 
It is the chief reliance'of the farmer, for with it he 
fattens his poi'k, beef and mutton, which are always 
in demand, at good i)rices. Corn is a crop easily 
raised, and when raisec. the farmer can take his own 
lime in harvesting, gathering it at any time in the 
winter, when other work is not pressing — thus 
avoiding the heavy expense incurred in harvesting 
other crops. By raising this in sufficient quantity 
and feeding it to his stock, the farmer can, at all 
seasons of the year, have fatted cattle, hogs, or 
sheep to convert into money. 

In the southern portion of the State cotton can be 
profitably grown. The soil is rich and the yield 
nearly equal to that of the States farther South. 
Labor to cultivate and pick the crop is easily ob- 
tained in St. Louis, when needed, and does not have 
to be kept the entire year — an advantage not pos- 
sessed by many of the States further South. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

For raising all kinds of stock, Missouri is unsur- 
passed. Blue grass, orchard grass, timothy, red 
top, red and white clover, grow luxuriantly, and 
afford the best of grazing. If winter pasturage is 
supplied to stock, it can be kept the entii-e year 
without other feeding. Corn is so easily and cheaply 
raised that it is the best food that can be used to 
fatten and prepare stock for the shambles. In no 
State can pork be so cheaply and profitably pro- 
duced. By supplying the pigs and hogs with clover 
pasture in spring and summer, and turning them 
into corn-fields of proper size, in the autumn, they 
require no feeding, and attain large size, become 
very fat, and are ready for the butcher. 

AS A FRUIT AND GRAPP: COUNTRY 

Missouri stands first among the fruit States. No 
State produces such a great variety of fruits in such 
high perfection. At the American Pomological 
Convention at Rochester last year, where fruit was 
exhibited in competition from most of the States of 
the Union, three of the Wilder medals were 
awarded to Missouri — one for the largest and best 
display of fruits made by any State ; another for 
the best display of pears made by any State ; and 
another for the best display of grapes made by any 
State. Many of the fruits v/ere so much larger in 
size, and richer in coloring, and better in quality, 
that Eastern pomologists were unable to recognize 
varieties they had been familiar with from their 
boj'hood. 

The grapes of Missouri are of the highest quality, 
and the wine produced from them unequaled in 
other States. In the great national contest, a few 



years ago, at Philadelphia, the prize for the best 
wine produced in any State, was awarded to Mis- 
souri. There are millions of acres of as good grape 
land as the sun shiues upon in Missouri unoccupied, 
awaiting the hand of tlie toiler. It requires but a 
few years to cover them with productive vineyards. 
Apples, pears, peaches, plums, apricots, necta- 
rines, quinces and the entire list of the small fruits, 
such as currants, gooseberries, raspberries, straw- 
berries and blackberries yield abundantly, with but 
little care, and furnish a most healthful and luscious 
diet. Figs can be grown ^vith a little winter pro- 
tection, and it is no sti'etch of tlie immagination to 
say that every farmer in Missouri may, if he chooses, 
•' sit under his own vine and fig tree." 

CLIMATIC INFLUENCES. 

But one of the great advantages in farming in 
Missouri is the short and open Minters, giving the 
farmer the opportunity of working nearly every day 
in the year, and not hibernating for five or six 
months of every year as the Northern farmer is 
compelled to do. The advantage of mild, open, 
short winters is not generally appreciated by the 
immigrant; and it is a matter of the greatest im- 
portance to him. It saves him from hii-ing labor, 
giving him a much longer season fordoing his work. 
It saves him gi-eat exiiense in carrying his stock 
over winter. It enables him, with his own labor, to 
keep his farm in better order, his fencing in better 
repair, and his lands in better culture than if he 
were restricted to a much shorter period for all 
kinds of work. But there is another reason why 
Missouri is a favorable State for the farmer immi- 
grant. It is because she is so centrally located; 
because she affords such excellent facilities for the 
cheap transportation of her jsroducts to market. A 
large share of the value of the pi-oduct is not con- 
sumed in transporting it to St. Louis — the starting 
place for an Eastern or foreign market. In States 
farther west this is a most serious burden and robs 
fanning of most of its pi-ofits. The great Mississippi 
River will always afford a competing channel for 
our commerce, and the very lowest rates to the East 
or to Europe can be obtained in consequence. By 
getting far away from tliis grand emporium, the 
cost of freight on what the immigi-ant raises may 
eat up the value of what he produces. By being 
near to St. Louis, the freight to that city will be a 
trifle, but by being far Hway it will be a heavy bur- 
den, and it comes out of the farmer's pocket — buy 
his product who may^ or at what point. 

MARKET FACILITIES. 

But there is in many sections of Missouri a home 
market. No State is so rich in mineral develop- 
ments, and every mine is a market for all the farmer 
can raise, and at high prices. Every year the de- 
velopment of the mines of Missouii will be increased 
which will increase the demand for farm jiroducts. 
Then the manufactories of the State are increasing, 
and must yearly increase. No State offers such 
facilities for manufacturing establishments of all 
kinds, and these are the best friends of the farmer. 

Missouri is a healthy State— healthj^ for man and 
beast. In no State is there so little disease to be 
found in the flocks and herds. The land is generally 



20 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



rolling, the air pure and invigorating, the water 
clear and sparkling- The State is never afflcted by 
the teii-ible drouths, which destroy vegetation and 
leave man and beast in a famisliing condition, as is 
the case in States further west. With the great 



Missis^;ippi ami Missouri Kivers, and their hundreds 
of tributaries within and upon her borders, there i» 
generally plenty of moisture to attract showers, and 
such a thing as a general failure of crops has nerer 
been known in this State. 



Horticulture. 



The produ(tls oi the garden add so iniuh to llie 
comforts of life tliat tliey cannot be neglected. To 
the intelligent emigrant, then, wlio seeks a new 
home— not from the nomadic instinct or from a 
restless desire for change, but with a wise and 
settled pui-pose to improve his social and financial 
condition, the subject of horticulture must possess 
a deep interest. He does not wish to remove his 
fiunily, no matter what tlieir present surroundings, 
to a iocaUty where long, cold winters will destroy 
his fruit trees, nor to one where intense summer 
heat will scorch his small fruits and garden vege- 
tables. Missouri, in this respect, as in many others, 
offers peculiar advantages and invites careful ex- 
amination for the immigrant who seeks to make a 
comfortable and pennanent home. 

The latitude of Missouri, between the 36th and 
40th parallels, is better adapted for successful fruit 
growing than is the country either north or soutli 
of it. Here peaches flourish as they do in few of 
the more northern States, while many tender fruits, 
sucli as apricots, nectarines, figs and many of tlie 
choicer varieties of grapes can be grown witli ordi- 
nary care— and the fruits of the north, apples, 
pears, plums and cherries grow here equally well 
with very much less trouble and care ; all the labor 
of protecting the trees from the biting frost of a 
six months' winter being quite unnecessary, as 
the winters are so mucli less severe and 
shorter than the New England season of frost 
and snow. 

The farmer and gardener is also especially fa- 
vored Willi a ready market for all surplus, as the 
States west, with their hot, dry climate, in which it 
is impossible to grow perfect fruit, stand ready to 
absorb the supply before it can reach the mining 
regions of the Rocky Mountains, where the demand 
for fruit is so great that it would consume tlie whole 
production were tlie State planted in one vast 
orchard, and then not cry "enough." 

There are few parts ot tliis great Stale from which 
frnit cannot find direct and convenient transporta- 
tion to a market wliich is never overstocked. All 
roads lead to St. Louis. Besides this mammoth 
market place, the fruit-growers of North Missouri 
can ship their surplus to Iowa and Minnesota, 
where there is a constanl, <leniand for it; from the 
western part of tlie State are direct lines of trans- 
portation to the mines, and the southern section has 
its capacity severely taxed by the needs of Texas. 
.\ soil so rich in all the elements of fertility, in a 
climate so genial as that of Missouri, needs only an 
opportunity to produce luscious fruits in an over- 
whelming abundance. 



RELIABLE MARKETS. 
The southeastern portion of the State, aJoag the 
line of the Iron Mountain Railroad, and the western 
portion, where the marly deposits are so rich and 
extensive, are pre-eminently the yieach districts, 
and in these regions the peach seems almost indi- 
genous, never failing to produce abundant crops ; 
and yet fruit-growers in these districts say that 
they are never able to supply the demand, Nebi-aska. 
Kansas and Colorado taking all from the western 
region, and St. Louis having to draw upon other 
States for her supplies. Peaches may be relied upon 
as a profitable cro)) in all that part of the State 
south of the Missouri River, and, indeed, are largely 
grown much further north, St. .Joseph exporting 
large amounts. 

Pears do well throughout the State, especially in 
the region of Clay, Jackson and Cass Counties. 
The trees attain a great size and age— a diameter of 
from twelve to fifteen inches is common ; and there 
are trees a short distance south of St. Louis over 
two hundred years old, and still bearing full crops. 
AVhere other fruits grow so finely, apples, of all 
fruits the most interesting to settlers, cannot fail to 
succeed. 

THE APPLES OF MISSOURI 
are of remarkable fine color and size, and many 
varieties flourish here so much better than at the 
East, that eastern fruit-growers often fail to recog- 
nize varieties with which they have had life-long 
acquaintance when Missouri calls their attention to 
improved and enlarged editions of the old-time 
soi-ts. To locate the most favorable district for 
apple culture would be impossible— as diflicult as 
it would be to locate points where orchard.- 
would prove unprofitable. Those who have visited 
nearly every part of the State and made extensive 
acquaintance among our fruit-growers say— they 
have yet to learn of a single orchard with even the 
"let-alone" cultivation so common in the West 
which has not been a source of profit to the owner. 
But it is as a grape-growing State that Missouri 
ranks above all others. Other States may compete 
with her in other fruits ; but in grape culture she is 
the acknowledged leader, and Missouri grape-grow- 
ers have done more to advance this branch of 
horticulture in the Lnited States than those of all 
other States combined. 
Here there are 

SIX NATIVE VARIETIES OF GRAPES, 
and wild vines having a diameter of from ten to 
twelve inches are coininon. It is needless to say, that 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



21 



wliere wild vines grow so luxuriantly, the success ot 
ciillivated varieties is assured. Of new and valuable 
varieties of grapes originating in,tliis country, Mis- 
g<mi-i claims more tlian any other State, and that her 
wines are of superior quality the fact that since tlie 
beginning of Avine making in. the State, Missouri 
wines have received the highest awards at every 
World's Fair is sufficient evidence. 

Tiu-haps no better proof can be given of the gen- 
eral excellence of Missouri fruits than the fact that 
at the last meeting of the American Pomological 
Society, in September last, medals were awarded to 
Missouri for the best displays of apples, pears and 
wines, and also one for the best general display of 
fruits, gaining these' honors when in competition 
with every State in the Union, rein-esented by their 
choicest fruits, and at an exhibition held at Roches- 
ter, New York, which has long been regarded as"the 
very center of the fruit -growing interests of the 
country. 

The strawberry cro)> is one of great importance. 
The receipts at St. Louis from a single county reach 
^ully 150,000 gallons annually, and they can be groAvn 
with prolit anywhere in the State. 

Fruit-growing in Missouri has not kept pac« with 
or spread as rapidly as other industries have, and 
(lie production is not now equal to the demand. 



MARKET GARDENING 

is a very important branch of horticulture, and on« 
too often overlfioked. 

People liear of the extensive grain lields of th« 
West — of the immense profits to be dei'ived from 
stock-raising, and, perhaps, of the magnificent op- 
portunities for fruit culture, and do not think of th« 
garden or "truck patch" as a source of wealth; 
while in reality tliere is, pei-haps, no other business 
which can be made more proiltable, especially in 
Missoui-i. With a soil capable of producing the very 
largest crops, Missouri buys more garden vegetables 
tlian she sells ; simply because the attention of peo- 
ple has not been sufficiently called to this business. 

Although St. Louis prices are nearly or quite 
double those of Xew York or Philadelphia, not more 
thad one-third of the vegetables used in ttiat city ai-« 
raised in the State. In the region of St. Louis, Kan- 
sas City, St. Joseph and other large towns, market 
gardening is immensely profitable, and in hundred* 
of smaller towns throughout the State the price* 
realized for garden vegetables arc enormous. 

While St. Louis alTords ample mai-ket for the gar- 
dens of ICast Missouri, those of the western part ot 
the State find an unlimited demand in supplying tha 
almost desert regions of the West and the mines »f 
Colorado. 



Fruit Ciilture. 



Fruit culture in Missouri is still in its infancy ; yet 
much progress has been made . None of the 
catalogue of fruits adapted to this latitude fail of 
success in this State. Every owner of a lot of 
ground, in almost any part of the State can, with a 
small outlay of money and labor, raise all the fruit 
required for family consumption, from the straw- 
berry and early cherry to the late keeping apple; 
and thoilsauds upon lliousandsof acres could, with 
a reasonable amount of labor, properly bestowed, 
be converted into fine fruit gardens and orchards. 

The adaptation and capacity of Missouri to pro- 
duce fruit for market and for transportation are un- 
surpassed. The writer has, for nearly fifty years, 
been engaged in the cultivation of apples for mar- 
ket, and can well attest the capacity of this State 
to produce the very finest apples, in unlimited quan- 
tities. 

There is no question of the profit of raising 
apples for market, if a proper location is selected, 
good varieties planted, and reasonable care be- 
stoA'ed on the trees, and on the fi-uit after it is 
gathered. 

ILLUSTRATIONS OF PROFIT. 

A few illustrations: In 1851, ninety- seven apple 
trees, growing on less than two and a half acres, 
yielded 87.3 bai-rels— an average of nine barrels to 
the tree. Five hundred barrels of these apples 
■were sold in St. Louis, in one lot, for three dollars 
and fifty cents a barrel. The actual cost of gather- 
ing, preparing for market and delivery was seventy- 
five cents a barrel, making a net profit of two dollars 
and seventy-five cents a barrel, and a total of about 
nine hundred dollars per acre. 



In 1865 the writer raiseo apples, a lot of whioJi 
were sold in LouisviUe, Ky., for eight dollars a bar- 
rel. The crop in Missouri was a large one, that 
year, and the average price was four dollars a 
barrel. 

It is not uncommon foi- trees to yield twelve and 
thirteen barrels of good apples, and trees have been 
known to yield fifty barrels in ten years. There 
were individual trees in 1865 whose crops were 
worth to the owner $40. Such results cannot always 
be expected, but they are often attained and some- 
times surpassed. 

Pears, peaches and plumbs, strawben'ies, rasp- 
berries and other svnall fruits fiourish in Missouri 
and ijrodnce al)undantly, and can be raised with 
profit. 

All these can be safely sent hundreds of miles b» 
market, and the great network of railroads radiat- 
ing fi'om St. Louis and permeating the country in 
every direction enables the fruit growers of Mis- 
souri to sell their products to the inliabitants of all 
that vast moneA'-making, non -fruit growing, but 
fruit consuming country extending westward to the 
Rocky Mountains, and from British Ameiica to 
Mexico, and to find a ])rofitable market in the States 
north, northwest and northeast of them, even into 
Canada and into Texas and other Southern States. 
And it will be but a few years before the great 
markets of Mexico will be open to them. 

In no State in the Union, in no part of the world, 
is there a counti-y better adapted to fruit culturo 
than Missouri. Nowhere else can a larger or better 
variety of fruits be produced for home consumptUMii 
or for commercial purposes. 



22 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



Vineyards and Wines. 



There are two classes of grapes w.hich, it is be- 
lieved, will ultimately form the basis of the vine- 
yards of the whole civilized world, which are at home 
in Missouri, and of which one, the ^:stivalis class, 
attains a perfection here which has astonished the 
<-,onnoisseurs of Europe. This class, in one of its 
varieties, the Norton's \ irginia, introduced from 
\irginia, at Hermann, in 1850, has stood the test of 
thirty years without disease, and is as healthy noW 
as when lirst introduced; the wine of which has 
acquire-d a world-wide reputation as the best medi- 
cal wine, resembling, and even exceliug iu its finest 
grades, the most renowned lUirguudies, while its 
medical qualities rank higher than those of any 
otlier known variety. The Cynthiana, introduced 
into this State in 1858, is of a similar character, just 
:is productive and healthy, while its wine is much 
more delicate and refined. Wine has been made 
from it which sold at thirty-six dollars per case, of 
twelve bottles, and the prize was awarded to it at 
the Vienna exhibition, as the best red wine of all na- 
tions. The Xeosho, taken from the woods in South- 
west Missouri, makes a fine sherry, is ]>roductive 
and a sure crop every year, while several wild 
grapes grown at Neosho give the highest promise 
of wines equal to any of these. All of these belong 
to the vEstivalis or summer grape class, are phyllox- 
era proof, as far as known, and at home in this soil. 
Several seedlings of the Korton show a high degi-ee 
of excellence— the Hermann makes a fine pale 
sherry, and a seedling grown f^orn it again, the 
White Hermann, golden yellow in color, and -ex- 
ceedingly productive, promises to make the finest 
white wine. These are the varieties which are 
reliable, healthy and hardy; and upon the Northern 
^•Estivalis, the Norton, Cynthiana, and others of the 
game class, may be safely based the future produc- 
tion of as fine clarets, Burgundies and sherries as 
any country can produce, while they will yield a 
moderate, paying crop every year. If the wines of 
the Norton and Cynthiana have gained already such 
a reputation in "the past ; if they have lived and 
flourislied through all the depression and reverses, 
never failing of a crop, and although cultivated and 
tried in nearly all grape-growing States, yielding 
by far their best products only on Missoiu'i soil; 
if they have done this with the imperfect treatment 
they received, is the belief not justified that they 
will do still better in the future, under more rational 
treatment, and that they are destined to become 
the future staple red wines of the world? The best 
grape-growers iu Missouri have an abiding faith iu 
them, and this belief is fast gaining ground over 
the whole counti-}-. While the eastern grape re- 
gions, and especially California, may excel in the 
quantity of white wines, no State, so far as tried, 
can rival Missouri in the 

pnoi>noTiON OK wines; 

and they should be looked to especially, if Missouri 
wines are to become as famous as they ought to be, 
and will be yet, before the generation of veterans 
who initiated their culture, and predicted their 
success, will be gathered to their fathers. 



But while the ^stivalis class is destined to fur- 
nish the red wines and the sherries of the future, 
still another class remains, the Kipara or river 
grape, which will furnish hocks and white wines, 
and will also yield the choicest table and market 
grapes. One of its varieties, the Taylor or Bullitt, 
has been cultivated for over twenty years in this 
State, and is known to produce a very fine white 
wine, resembling choice hock. But whUe the 
quality of its wine was unquestioned, it provefl an 
uncertain bearer, and the berries were too small. 
Several grape -growers conceived the idea to grow 
seedlings from the Taylor, which would have the 
high quality of the parent, but a larger bunch and 
berry being more uniformly productive. The first 
seedling of any note produced, was the already 
well known and famous Elvira, tested now for over 
ten years, and which has readily increased in size of 
bunch and berry ; a short jointed, stocky gTower, 
productive to a fault, and very vigorous, withstand- 
ing even the most severe winters without injury to 
a single bud, and making a beautiful white wine 
resembling, in color and flavor, the celebrated Eeis- 
ling of the Ilhine ; it has but one fault, the bunches 
are too compact, while the skin of the berry is very 
tender, and if, after a protracted drouth in summer, 
a rainy time sets in in fall, swelling the berries 
suddenly, they are liable to crowd each other and 
crack. But the Elvii-a was but the first of its many 
sisters w'hich gave promise of a higher degree of 
excellence without its faults. Foremost among 
these is the Amber, which makes a larger bunch 
and more loose than the Elvira, contains more 
sugar, and which on account of its liandsome color, 
better carrying qualities, and its delicious flavor, 
will also be a very attractive table and market fruit, 
while it must make a wine of still higher quality. 
The Pearl is another Taylor seedling which i)romises 
to be highly valuable. A medium -sized bunch and 
beiTV, golden yellow in color, of very high quality ,^ 
and containing a great deal of sugar, it cannot fail 
to make a first-class wine, while the vine is the 
beau ideal of a grape vine, vigorous, but short 
jointed and stocky ; large, healthy leaves, and very 
productive. There are a number of other Taylor 
seedlings — white, black and red — which make a 
wine of very high character; some equal to the 
choicest hocks, and which may safely be brought in 
competition with the best Johanilisberg and Deides- 
heim Kiessling. But the highest hopes are now 
entered in a seedling of Elvira, which has as yet 
fruited but once, but which seems as near 
perfection as a grape can be, with a pure and 
delightful flavor, golden yellow color, and the 
vine, in health and vigor, all that could be 
desired. 

This class is also phylloxera-proof, and as all of 
them grow very readily from cuttings, they are very 
easily propagated, and millions of cuttings have 
already been shipped to France, and even California, 
of the Taylor and IClvira^the only ones accessible 
in quantity— to serve as stocks to graft their Yinifera 
upon, as well as to test their wine-making qualities. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



23 



Tliey are all exceedingly hardy, withstanding the 
severest winters without injury, and very little, if 
any, subject to rot. 

THE PROSPECTS OF THE VINE-GROWER. 

"While, therefore, the jjrospects of Missouri grape 
:growers rest upon a surer basis than ever before, 
■while the American grape -grower feels assured of a 
grand success, the prospects of France, Germany— 
in short, all the grape-growing districts of Europe — 
arc darkening ; and even California begins to feel 
the ravages of that insidious enemy, the phylloxera. 
All must look to this State evj^tually for relief, in 
the shape of cuttings and plants of our jihylioxera- 
proof varieties. There were not cuttings enough of 
Taylor and Elvira in the State last year to meet the 
demand from abroad, and the sale of them, of the 
trimmings of the vineyards, will form a considerable 
source of revenue to the vinters of Missouri. The 
product of France, owing to the ravages of the 
phylloxera, has decreased to an alarming extent, 
while California wines are shipped over there in 
large quantities, to be transformed into French 
Medocs and other wliite wines, and then be shipped 
here to America to be sold to the credulous public 
as choice Frencl>wiues. Can such folly not be es- 
^topped? ' 

Invite the grape-growers of Europe to leave their 
devastated and uncertain vineyards ; to bring their 
skill and industry here, and then supply the demand 



Avhich the failing vineyards are sure to create. 
There are millions upon millions of acres in this 
State which can produce the wines. But other 
elements are wanted than we have had so far, and 
vintners must go to work in a different manner. 
Men who are willing to work and wait a few years 
for the results of their labor are wanted; men who 
have sense, skill and industry enough to prottt by 
the experience of those who have worked before 
them; who can adapt themselves to the different 
requirements of this soil and climate— in short, 
thinking, intelligent labor. 

FIspecially are needed men who are skillful in 
wine-making, M'ho know what they are about, and 
who exi^ect and make a good marketable wine with 
as much mathematical certainty of the result as it 
they already saw and tasted it; Avho trust nothing 
to guess-work, but all to science and knowledge ; 
and lastly, good cellar managers, such as they have 
in the best establishments in Europe, who under- 
stand the cutting, mixing and blending of different 
kinds of grapes and wines, and who will give to the 
public a uniform, good and drinkable wine, instead 
of the nauseous stuff which has so often disgraced 
the name of American wine, and which has preju- 
diced the public against its use. 

The material is here to-day to compete with 
France and Burgundy in their choicest red wines, 
and with the Rhine and Moselle in their best 
hocks. 



Grasses and. Pasturage. 



It has been shown that Missouri occupies a central 
position in the fertile valley of the great river, and 
its physical description, its climatology and agricul- 
tural capabilities, have been ably and fully set forth. 
This will prove without further assertion that Mis- 
souri is the native home, and is capable of becoming 
the cherishing foster-mother of a vast variety of the 
great number of species of the grasses that are ca- 
pable of flourishing in this genial and temperate 
latitude. There are few or no grasses that are pe- 
culiar to Missouri; and, fortunately so, for were it 
otherwise, it would argue some peculiarity in the 
soil or climate that would, perhaps, unlit them for 
many varieties of this great and almost universally 
diffused family of plants. There is no permanent 
advantage in being adapted to peculiar crops any 
more than in being a peculiar people. T)ie great 
blessings of life are universal and widespread. It 
results that all the valuable members of this great 
and beneficial family of plants are adapted to and 
capable of being introduced aUd cultivated in this 
State. It has been said that the countrv which has 
a limestone soil has blue grass, and the land that has 
the basis of all agricultural prosperity. The soU 
and climate make this State the natural home of 
this sweet and nutritious grass ; so much so that it 
is only necessary to take off the shade and keep off 
the stock for awhile to have it spring up spontane- 
ously, as is abundantly proven by very many in- 
stances, of which numerous examples could be 
cited. 



It is said that " fine feathers make fine birds," 
and that a lil)eral dispensation from a well filled 
corn-crib makes fine stock; and there is no doubt 
that to her "blue grass pastures Kentucljy is indebted 
for her pre-eminence in the production of fine 
horses and cattle. And in this State many have 
fully demonstrated how kindly this invaluable 
grass takes to the soil, furnishing, when not grazed 
during summer, the most luxuriant winter pasture 
.age, and productive here, as in Kentucky, of the 
same high-priced, because high-fed animals. In 
this connection, it may be of interest to note that 
Kentucky blue grass (so called) is not there native 
and "to the manor born," but is an adopted child, 
being the English spear grass, the New England 
June grass, meadow grass, or, in botanical lan- 
guage, poa pratensis. 

OTHER VALUABLE GRASSES. 
Among the grasses, even this valuable species is 
entitled to no special pre-eminence. Other varie- 
ties of gramineaj are fully its equals, and in some 
respects its superiors. Orchard grass has longer 
and more numerous roots, forms a heavier sod, 
st.ands drouth better, grows faster after being 
grazed, and gives a more continuous pasture; 
besides being capable, like m.any other of the 
grasses, of being cut for hay. With beasts as weii 
as men, "variety is the spice of life." As the bee 
roams from flower to flower, so those who observe 
the habits of animals closely will see that they see"-- 



24 



Hand-Book of Missouri 



Tariety in their food, and this should teach, if noth- 
ing else did, to sow a variety of grasses, to secure a 
constant and regular supply of food for stock, the 
importance and necessity for which is well hinted 
at by the inferred desolate condition of those who 
are caugiit between " hay and grass." Many of the 
indigenous wild grasses are worthy of study and 
preservation. Blue grass, orchard grass, timothy 
and red top are but a tithe of the forage plants 
worthy of being introduced and cultivated for hay 
and pasturage. 

The clovers, lucerne?, and lupines which, besides 
their own enormous yield of herbage are also of 
exceeding value as renovating cr(>))s, especially 
deserve attention and introduction wlicn lands 
have been "corned" to death or blighted by too 
many successive wheat crops. In Kngland each 
acre in tillage is given the manure produced fi'om 
throe acres of grass. It maybe said that no manure 
is so cheap or abunda«t or so easily and evenly 
applied as clover. It draws from the air and the 
clouds, and yields to the soil its accumulated.bene- 
fits. It is easier and clieaper to bring worn out 
lands back into good heart by means of clover than 
it is to clear new and Irosh timber lauds of roots and 
stumps. 

For soiling purposes it could have been cut twice 
a month, from the 15th of April to the 1.5th of Octo- 
ber. In Germany it has long been used for soiling 
hogs; red clover, though of great value, is a bi- 
ennial plant, i. e., reaching maturity in two years; 
and if allowed to stand longer the land is apt to 
bei-ome "clover sick," as farmers call it. But 
alfalfa is one of the most permanent of forage 
plants, so much so that it may be said to be per- 
ennial. Its roots are of the class known as tap 
roots and go to permanent moisture, often reaching 
& depth of from twelve to twenty feet. It therefore 
}>Hys little or no attention to drouth, and a farmer 



having it is assured of a hay crop whether rains 
occur seasonably or not, as was well illustrated 
here last season (1879), timothy proving a failure, 
but alfalfa yielding its usual crops. As in Europe 
so in older portions of this country, grass is the 
most permanent and valuable cro]), and lands in 
grass bear the highest prices. There are meadows 
in the valley of the Connecti(uit, in which no plow 
has turned a furrow for eighty years, that yield four 
tons of hay per acre and bear a value of $175 to .f2.'>0 
per acre. They are enriched by the sediment of 
annual ovei-flows. 

STOCK-GKOWING CAPACITY. 

Tlie capabilities of portions of Missouri for stock 
growing are very little known or appreciated. 

Within a day"s horseback ride of the city of St. 
Louis there begins a range for slock unsuiijassed, 
at least for quality ; a region well watered, well tim- 
bered and shaded, clothed witli nutritious grasses, 
where cattle can be herded and driven, gradually, 
southward to winter in tlie cane-brakes of .Vi'kansas, 
and in spring to return upon the growing grass 
till they are witliin one day's journe)' of their mar- 
ket ; or where shelter can be easily and cheaply 
supplied, and crops, raised in the valleys, cheaply, 
bought for feeding cattle during the winter, if that 
should be desired; where supplies are quickly and 
(dieaply i-eached ; wliere there is no tri-angular light 
between settlers and cattle and sheep men; Avliere 
herders would be welcomed as buyers of stock and 
crops, and where fheir early lanibs and calves could 
be cheaply and quickly marketed. The ancients had 
•a, saying that the land which produced corn, wine 
and oil was a fortunate land ; but in view of the 
changes in the timefs and seasons, and human re- 
quirements, should that land not be considered most 
fortunate that produces the most and best grasses? 



Stock Raising. 



"Without disparaging oe- uuderating other States, 
it can be truthfully said that for stock-raising, Mis- 
sowri possesses unsurpassed advantages, and the 
ioUowing arguments will supjiort the assertion : 

1st — Its central location. 2nd — Its unsurpassed fa- 
eilities for shipping every kind of stock, both by 
water and rail, in every direction. .'5d — The surface, 
the soil and the climate of the State are such as to 
be conducive to the health of all kinds of stock. 
Contagious disease, so common in many ])arts of the 
world, do not infect the flocks and lierds of Missouri, 
except the so-called " swine disease;" and that is 
first caused, in most, if not in every instance, by 
shameful neglect. And 4lh — The cheapness and 
fertility of the lands make the cost of raising all 
kinds of stock and fitting them for market less than 
auywhere else in the L'nited States. 

Long experience, and careful estimates of the 
oost of land, the amount and cost of forage neces- 
nary lo raise and fatten the different kinds of stock 
iwr market justify the positive assertion that 



horses, cattle and hogs ean be raised and fattened 
for one-half of what it costs to do the same in the 
eastern and middle States, while sheep can be 
raised for one- third. And the live trunk lines of 
railroads from St. Louis, running direct to the sea- 
board, deliver Missouri stock on the Atlantic 
coast at an .average of 8 ])er cent, on their market 
value. 

Undulating land is the coveted home for stock. 
They will not do as well on Iom", level lands. Illinois 
is generally too level, and is better adapted for .h. 
grain State. 

In Missouri there are hills, rough as the highlands 
of Scotland ; extensive valleys, fertile as the Nile, 
and prairies inters})ersed with beautiful gi-oves of 
timber. 

GUASS T)1K BASIS OK A(TRrCULTURK. 

It has been truly said that " grass lays the foun- 
dation for all successful agriculture," and where 
CMii be found a country where all the grasses, suited 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



25 



to the temperate zone, lincl a more congenial home 
than in the .soil of Missouri? Everywhere grass 
grows luxuriantlj-, and until recently, nature hav- 
ing provided the wild grasses so hountifully, the 
cultivated grasses have been neglected. Yet, every 
practical man, who has sown plenty of seed, 
suited to the dilferent kinds of soil, lias met 
with marked success. And red clover, that gi'eat 
renovator of impoverished lands, grows wherever 
it is sown. 

A field, thirty miles west of St. Louis, jjroduced a 
<'rop of wheat for tlurt}--Hve successive years with- 
out any fertilizers ; and the (hirty-iifth j-ear it yielded 
twcnty-flve bushels per acre. J{ed clover was then 
sown on the lield, and the crop of clover was excel- 
lent. 

Men who wish to raise slock are by some advised 
to go further AVest and engage in the business on a 
large scale ; but they should remember that the best 



parts of the range are occupied and fenced in, while 
at the best it is a hazardous business. One summer 
of extreme drouth, or a Avinter of unusual severity, 
may blast all their hopes. Not so with Missouri. II 
is bounded and traversed by mighty rivers and their 
tributaries ; it is not subject to the terrible drouths 
which occur on the western plains ; and should a 
severe winter come, there is always a plenty of 
cheap forage in this great grain-producing State. 

Those wishing a beautiful home and slock farm 
combined, are advised to come to Missouri. If 
they have the means and wish to raise cattle, 
horses and hogs, on a large scale, they may settle 
wherever it suits them, north of the Missouri River, 
or south of that river, west of Jefferson City. If 
their means are limited, let them go south of the 
Missouri and east of Jefferson City. There the^ 
can get cheaper lands, and make a specialty of 
sheep-raising. 



Dairying. 



la Missouri will be found, united in greater per- 
fection than in any other State, all the elements that 
go to make the business of dairying profitable. 

North Missouri is washed b)- innumerable rivulets, 
creeks and small rivers, with rapid currents, whose 
course is, in Northwest Missouri generally, south- 
ward into the Missouri Kiver, and in Northeast Mis- 
souri southeastwardly into the Mississippi. The 
timber and prairie lands are in about equal quanti- 
ties. This whole country is undulating, and the soil 
of extraordinary fertility, from three to eight feet 
deep and inexhaustible, producing naturally most 
nutritious wild grasses, and the finest quality of 
blue grass, and, with cultivation, all other grasses 
and every farm product, in quantity and quality, un- 
equaled by any country in the world. The streams 
never go dry. The winters are short. Snow rarely 
covers the ground for one continuous week and the 
climate is healthy for man and beast— unusually so 
for cattle — and pleasant at all seasons of the year. 

MILK, BUTTER AND CHEESE, 
can, as a consequence, be produced cheaper, and 
with less labor, in Missouri than, perhaps, any- 
where else. The facilities for transportation are 
unsurpassed. Besides the Missouri River, running 
the entire length of the western and southern boun- 
dary of North Missouri, and the Mississippi wash- 
ing its entire eastern border, there are railroads in 
every one but two of the forty-four counties of this 
division of the State. 

What ha s been said of North Missouri, is applicable 
to the greater part of that portion of the State lying 



south of the Missouri River. But much of this sec- 
tion of the State is quite broken, and the extensive 
Ozark formation may be called mountainous. It is 
generally more thinly settled, and much of it is one 
of the finest pastoral regions on the globe. In some 
respects it is better adapted to successful dairying. 
The streams are more numerous, and the water in 
the so-called mountainous regions cooler and more 
unfailing, and the remarkable springs of Pulaski, 
Newton, Franklin and other counties furnish a won- 
derful supply of cold water, of uniform temperature 
throughout the year. The weather in mid -summer 
is, perhaps, hotter, but it is dryer, and the atmos- 
pheric influence on the keeping of milk is better, 
But it is in the (•ai>acity for winter dairying that Mis- 
souri—especially Sooth Missouri — excels. Cattle 
uniformly graze until Christmas, and the young and 
tender crop of nutritious, milk-producing grass that 
springs underneath and is protected by the blue 
grass, if permitted to grow unfed in the fall, affords 
excellent winter pasture. 

The success of dairying in Missouri lias been fully 
tested. Natural yellow butter of the very best qual- 
ity is made throughout the year. A prominent and 
intelligent butter dealer and dairyman, who has had 
fifteen years' experience in New York and twenty 
years in Missouri, expresses the decided opinion that 
this as a dairy country surpasses that of New York, 
Ohio or Wisconsin. He thinks the cUmate more fa- 
vorable, the grasses better and the easy butter-mak- 
ing period much longer, while the support of stock 
costs much less. 



26 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



Wool Growing. 



As a State for successful wool-growing Missouri 
needs no long array of fine spun arguments drawn 
from the fertile imaginations of theorists. The 
business has unobtrusively interwoven itself into 
the growth and progress of the State to such an 
extent that its general hidtory could not be per- 
fectly wi-itten without recording the gro-w-th and 
progress of wool -growing and wool -manufacturing 
within her borders. 

Diseases have not prevailed to any disastrous 
extent in any section, and sheep within the borders 
of Missouri are remarkably healthy. No State in 
the Union is more fortunate in its adaptability to all 
lands and breeds of sheep. 

\ large majority of Missouri farms are of rolling 
and undulating surface; the soil being rich and 
productive, both in gi-ains and grasses, making 
them peculiRx-ly adapted to the business; and no 
agricultural pursuit, as such, or M^hich may include 
with it the keeping of any or all other kinds of 
stock, has been so profitable in the last ten years as 
has sheep farming properly managed and persist- 
ently adhered to. 

On the ranch system, chiefly in the counties of 
.Southern Missouri, sheep raising has proved very 
remunerative, and there has been a greater or more 
certain increase, from the fact that the storms are 
less frequent and less destructive tlian in most 
other pastoral regions. The jirotection afforded by 
the mountains or high ridges and hills, on which 
are generallj' more or less timber, goes far to give 
Btalility and to assure profits to the business. 

PROTECTION TO FLOCKS. 

There are single flocks of thousands, and there is 
no instance in this period of destruction, or even 
very serious damage by storms, which have proved 
so fatal in other sheep -growing regions. Their 
security is not only assured in tliis way, but also by 
artificial shelter and protection, which may be 
secured cheaply by lumber from her own timber, 
abundant in the regions of the State that are so 
well adapted to a sheep pastoral pursuit. Grain 
and hay may be provided in all pai-ts of the State 
for an extended or exti-aordinary winter. 

Corn can be obtained in the pastoral regions of 
Missouri for less than twenty-five cents per bushel. 

The sheep do not have to travel miles for their 
daily supply gf water; but springs and streams of 
pure running water are numerous and abundant. 

Another prominent and advantageous feature is 
the amount of grass which is growing among the 
timber, in the valleys, on thfe slopes, and on the high 
hills or mountainous regions of Southern Missouri. 
These grasses are not so tall aud coarse as to be 
unhealthy for sheep, but they are the finer grasses, 
growing upon lands that are natui'ally well drained. 
The climate is mUd in winter, esi)ecially'in the 
south half of the StAto. Snows are not frequent, 
nor do they lie upon the ground long enough to 
prevent sheep from liaving a living on the blue grass 
pastures, which exist, or may easily be secured, in 
all sections of this State. 



Blue grass is indigenous in Missouri. When the 
timber is removed it springs up spontaneously on 
the land, and, when the prairie is reclaimed, it soon 
takes possession and supercedes all other grasses. 
This famous grass is the foundation on which the 
mighty stock industry of Kentucky has been built, 
and has given a world-renowned reputation to its 
fine blood horses, cattle and sheep. The combing- 
wool sheep ancT the fine mutton breeds have ob- 
tained a national reputation for wool and mutton in 
that State, and their usefulness has but begun. 
AV'hat blue grass has done for Kentucky, it is now 
doing for Missouri. An acre of this grass is worth 
an acre of corn. This seems a strong assertion, but, 
for keeping sheep and growing wool, an acre of it is 
certainly worth as much as an a<!re of corn in the 
State of Missouri, as is well established by repeated 
experiments in this State. 

CHEAr LANDS EASILY SECURED. 

There are tens of thousands of acres of lauds as 
well set in blue grass as those on which these care- 
ful experiments have been made, and capable of 
being handled in the same way Ity sheepmen, which 
can be bouglit now at from ten to twenty-five dol- 
lars per a(;re, and hundreds of thousands of acres 
upon which blue grass is fast taking hold, and which 
will ev.entually be as good, if depastured by sheep, 
that can be bought for less tlian five dollars per 
acre. Facts concerning the value and capabilities 
of blue grass lands, warrant the assertion that ten 
thousand acres of these cheap lands, niiinaged as a 
pastoral sheep ranch, and when fully set in blue 
grass, will keep more sheep and produce more wool 
than any ten-thousand-acre sheep ranch in the 
world. 

This State is suitable for all kinds of sheep, either 
for wool or mutton, and in either will excel. Mis- 
souri is now producing a superior quality of low 
grade wool from her common sheep, which has 
been largely consumed in the State, and a consider- 
able surplus sent abroad for sale. Her best 
wools have superior qualities acknowledged by 
manufacturers on account of fine texture, elas- 
ticity, evenness of growth and strength of 
fibre. 

At the National Centennial Exhibition, in 1876, 
some thoi'oughbred American Merino sheep, bred 
and raised in this State, were awarded a diploma 
and medal as being equal, at least, with those of 
any other State. So, also, an exhibit of some fleeces 
and samples of wool from these same shee)), at the 
Paris Exhibition Universelle, in 1S7S, was awarded 
a diploma and silver medal, and these awards were 
given to sheep, and wool grown upon sheep, bred 
on Missouri soil. 

CHOICE OF LOCATION. 

The rich and finely cultivated higljer - priced 
lands in all parts of the State are well adapted to 
the thoroughbred flocks of all varieties for the pur- 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



27 



pose ol: breediag. Xowhere will the animals of a 
given breed attain larger size or more fully develop 
the animal or mutton qualities than in this State. 
Her thoroughbred sheep will rank with any in the 
United States, or in the world, and her corn and 
fine blue grass will produce the best heavy mutton 
and lustre conibing wool. 

But the great open domain of Missouri— the coun- 
ties south of theMissouriRiver— is that which will 



interest wool -growers who handle sheep on the pas- 
toral plan. 

Here large tracts of land may be aciinired for not 
over five dollars per acre, admirably adapted to this 
industi-y, on which wliole communities of wool- 
growers may settle with their families, and enjoy 
the benefits of advanced civilization, without ex- 
posure to the hardships, privations and dangers o£ 
l)order life. 



Minerals and Mining. 



Iron and coal, while the leading, are not by any 
means the only articles of Missouri's mineral 
wealth. Lead, zinc, copper, nickel, silver and other 
metals, as well as her stones, clays, sands, and other 
mineral materials, used in the arts and manufac- 
tures, are among her prominent resources. 
COAL. 

Tlie Missouri coal fields underlie an area of about 
26,000 square miles. The southern outcrop of the 
<;oal measures has been traced from the mouth of 
the Des Moines through the counties of Clark, 
Lewis, Shelby, Monroe, Audrain, Boone, Cooper, 
rettis, Henry, St. Clair, Bates, Vernon and Barton, 
into the Indian Territory, and every county north- 
west of this line is known to contain more' or less 
coal. Outside of the coal fields given above, coal 
rocks also exist in Ralls, Montgomery, Warren, St. 
Charles, Callaway and St. Louis Counties, and local 
or outlying deposits of bituminous and cannel coal 
are found in Moniteau, Cole, Morgan, Crawford, 
Lincoln and Callaway Counties. 

The exposed coal in Missouri incluc^es up- 
per, middle and lower coal measures. The 
upper coal measures contain about four feet of coal, 
in two seams of about one foot each, and other thin 
seams and streaks. The area of their exposure is 
about 8,400 square miles 

The middle coal measures contain about seven 
feet of coal, including two workable seams, twenty- 
one and twenty-four inches thick, respectively, and 
one of one foot, whicli is worked under favorable 
circumstances, and six thin seams. Tlie exposure of 
the middle measures covers an area of over 2,000 
square miles. 

The lower measures cover an ai-ea of about 15,000 
square miles and have five workable seams vary- 
ing in .thickness from eighteen inches to foiir 
and a half feet, and thin seams of six to eleven 
inches. 

Estimates have been made as to the amount of 
coal in these deposits ; but it is quite unnecessary to 
give them in this connection, as the reader can read- 
ily see that the supply is more than ample for the 
use of many generations to come. 

The coal mines of Missouri are usually easily 
worked, and require no deep shafts or expensive 
machinery for' hoisting or drainage. They under- 
lie the gi-eater portion of the finest agricultural 
sections, not only of the State, but of as productive 



a region as is on tlie continent. Coal of good quali- 
ty can be purchased at the mines so cheaply, tliat 
even where farmers have timber in abund- 
ance, near at hand, tliey prefer to burn coal ratli- 
er than cut and haul wood a short distance. 
The coal ai'ea covers considei'ably more than one - 
half of the State, and active and systematic mining^ 
has opened the beds in more than a thousand 
places along the railroads and near the towns. 
There need never be any fear of a scarcity of fuel 
in Missouri, and the condition of the farmer here 
,may in this respect be considered blessed far above 
tliat of those located in many portions of the North- 
west and farther West, where buffalo chips, corn- 
stalks and twisted hay are all they can afford to 
temper the cold of niorc rigorous winters than we 
ever experience here. 

IRON. 

The fame of the iron deposits of Missouri is too 
well established to require more than a comment 
upon the bearing this most important metal is 
destined to have in influencing tlie future prosperity 
of the State.. A distinguished mining engineer, 
after giving a detailed account of the mines which 
have been examined, suras up by saying : "They have 
enough ore in Missouri to run one hundred furnaces 
forone thousand years. More could not be desired^ 
without the appearance of too much solicitude for 
posterity, who would be too far removed to appre- 
ciate our good wishes." Iron Mountain, Pilot Knob, 
Shepherd Blountain, Simmons' Mountain, and 
thousands of other deposits of lesser distinction, 
will glut the forges for all time to come of a district 
yet destined to be one of the grandest workshops of 
the world. Concentrated in a limited area; sur- 
rounded on all sides by the grandest agricultural 
district of the globe; with unlimited supplies of 
coal; with timber and water-power unsurpassed 
upon the continent ; with a genial climate and heal- 
thy homes for the operatives, and their food cheaply 
jjroduced almost at their doors ; with the world for 
SI. market, and transportation facilities for reaching 
its most distant point, it is not difficult to see a 
prosperous future for a section so happily situated 
and so richly endowed. 

The manufacture of iron, and tlie industries 
growing out of it, are now in the State second only 
in importance to that of agriculture ; and yet these 
industries are only in their infancy. Hundreds of 



28 



Hand- Book of MiSvSourt. 



thousands of tons of our ore are .shipped out of the 
State annually, mostly to Pittsburg, I'enusylvauia, 
to be <;onverted into .steel and metalic iron, and 
much of it returned into and across the State in 
rails and bars and manufactured articles, simply 
because our mills and manufacturers are unable to 
supply the demand. 

Opportunities for the profitable investment of 
capital exist in hundreds of industries, ranging 
from the conversion of the ores into iron and steel 
to the manufacture of these materials into their 
most valuable forms. St. Louis, now the third 
manufacturing city in the Union, and other well 
located cities and towns throughout the State, are 
only just beginning to develop tlie possibilitfes of 
their importance as manufacturing centers, and as 
they increase the value of the agricultural lands 
will be wonderfully enhanced. 

LEAD. 

Kext to iron the most important metal of Missouri 
is lead. Lead mining has been carried on here for 
more than one hundred years, and the first dis- 
coveries of lead were made as early as 1720. Up to 
the present time new discoveries have been fre- 
quent, and it is now conceded that there is probably 
no country on the globe so rich in lead deposits as 
Missouri. The mineral occurs in lodes, veins and 
disseminations which are yet only jjartially deter- 
mined, but enough knowledge of the extent, depth 
and thickness of deposits has been acquired to show " 
that their range and richness exceed any other 
known lead-bearing region in the world. 

There are several lead districts in the State, all 
south of the Missouri Kivcr, where the magnesian 
limestone rock— the great lead -bearing rock of the 
world — exists. The lead is not, however, strictly 
confined to this rock, but is also found in a dis- 
seminated form in ferruginous clays, slates and in 
gravel beds, or in cherty masses in the days asso- 
ciated with the same. As this lead dissemination 
is the only one knewn to exist, the following expla- 
nation of the supposed manner in which it occurred 
tak«n from a paper prepared by H. (). Thompson, 
M. E., of St. Louis, will be pertinent and interesting: 

"The Azoic rocks in this region, when tiie great 
Silurian system began to be formed, were so many 
islands, their heads only elevated above the vast 
sedimentary sea. The bed upon which the lime- 
stones and sandstones were deposit^ed consisted of 
the weatherings of the Azoic rocks, which naturally 
sought the valleys and became a base for the sedi- 
mentary rock. This boundless sea held in solution 
lime, magnesia, alumina, manganese, lead, cop- 
per, cobalt, nickel, iron and other mineral sub- 
stances. In this chemical condition gasses were 
evolved and the work of formation commenced. 
The two gasses forming tlie great creative power, 
and aiding solidification, were carbonic acid and 
sulphureted hydrogeti ; the former seeking its 
aflinity in lime and forming limestone; the 
fiilphur in the lattcn- naturally combining with 
lh(! other metals, forming sulphates, or sulphurets. 
Tlie work of deposition and solidification being in 
harmony, it is easy to understand how these miner- 
als exist in a disseminated condition in these rocks. 
The slates that wo find so rich in (ialena, presenting 
the myriad forms of linerula, iimsi also have been 



formed in the Silurian Age. The distribution among 
the magnesian limestones of these decomposing 
slates can be most easily accounted for. The de- 
composed feld-spar produced by the weathering of 
the ponihyry became in its change a silicate of 
alumina, and the sulphur, combining with the leatl, 
disseminated the same in the slate as readily as in 
the limestone." 

THE SOUTHEASTERN LEA1> DISTKICT 

embraces all or parts of Jefferson, Washington,. 
Franklin, Crawford, Iron, St. Francois, St. Gene- 
vieve, Madison, Wayne, Keynolds and Carter Coun- 
ties, with some mines in the western i)ortiou of Cape 
Girardeau County. Mining has been longest carried 
on in this district, and the aggregate of the produc- 
tion has been very great. I'.ut.with the exception of a 
few mines, the work lias be'en chiefly surface mining, 
often carried on by farmers, during the winter sea- 
son, and the great deposits, which require capital to 
develop, may be said to have, as yet, been scarcely 
touched. This surface mining has often been so 
very profitable that mining lands acquired a great 
speculative value — too great for their purchase for 
agriculture— and this lias rather retarded the devel- 
ojjnient of this region tlian otherwise. With the 
low price of lead which has prevailed for the past 
three or four years, the lauds have again fallen, and 
the farmer can now buy them below their agricul- 
tural value, and, as has often been done, sometimes 
buy with them a fortune in an undiscovered mine. 

The central lead disti-ict <;omprises, as far as 
known, the counties of Cole, Cooper, Moniteau, 
Morgan, Miller, Benton, JIaries, Camden and Osage. 
Much of the mining done here, again, has been near 
the surface, the lead first being found in clays, in 
caves, and in masses in clay but a few inches below 
the surface. Shafts, however, sunk in the magne- 
sian limestone, find rich deposits in lodes and 
pockets. 

The southern lead district comiirises the counties 
of Pulaski, Laclede, Texas, Wright, Webster, Doug- 
lass, Ozark and Christian. It has been but little 
developed, but it is generally thought that it will 
])rove a profitable field for miners when railways 
make it more easily accessible. 

The western lead district embraces Hickory, Dal- 
las, Polk, St. Clair, Cedar and Dade Counties. Some 
rich deposits have been found' in this district, espe- 
cially in Hickory County. 

The southwestern }ead disti-ict comprises Jas- 
per, Kewtou, Lawrence, Stone, Bany and Mc- 
Donald. Here very extensive ruining has been 
done, more especially in the two counties first 
named, which have, for the last few years, pro- 
duced more than one-half of the pig-lead mined in 
the State. The famous mines in the (.iranby and 
Joplin districts have, in a few years, made those 
counties increase immensely in population. Many- 
lead furnaces are in a<!tive operation, and the in- 
dustry is an important source of wealth. These 
mines are surrounded by a rich agricultural region, 
and the one industry has materially assisted in the 
development of the other. 

For several years past more than one-half the 
lead production of the United States has be<m from 
Missouri mines. Besides the numerous smelting 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



29 



works supported by them, the manufacture of wliitc 
>ea>d, lead pipe, sheet lead, etc., contributes mater- 
ially to the industries and commerce of the State. 

COPPER. 

Several varieties of copper ore exist in Missouri 
mines. Deposits of copper have been discovered in 
Dent, Crawford, Benton, Maries, Greene, fiawrence, 
Dade, Taney, Dallas, Phelps, Reynolds, and Wright 
Counties. 

Some of the mines in Shannon County a:e now 
profitably worked, and mines in Franklin County 
have yielded good results. There can be no doubt 
that capital and systematic working would make 
many of the copper mines yield good returns on the 
money invested. 

ZINC. 

Sulphuret of zinc exists in connection with lead, 
and is very abundant in nearly all the lead mines of 
Southwestern Missouri, particularly in the moun- 
tain limestone of the mines of Kewtou and Jasper 
Counties. The carbonate and silicate occur in the 
same localities, but in smaller quantities. Zinc 
ores are also found in'nearly all the counties along 
or near the Ozark range. The sulphuret of zinc, 
known among miners as black-jack, is often found 
in such quantities as to retard the progress of lead 
mining, and from the difficulty of smelting it and 
the expense of getting the ores to the smelting 
works, it has been thrown out in dumps, and much 
of it left as worthless matter. By the completion 
of railroads, giving better transportation facilities, 
this ore will become a valuable merchandise. Large 
zinc smelting works have been in operation for 
several years, in this State, and their products are 
important articles of commerce. There is an ex- 
tensive vein of calamine in Taney County, M'hich 
will doubtless prove very valuable, when once made 
more accessible by railways. 

COBALT. 

Thi6 metal, so valuable in many of the arts, has 
been found in considerable quantities in Mine La 
Motte ; but, up to the present, is not known to exist 
m other localities in the State. 

MANGANESE. 

'I'he peroxide of manganese is found in several 
localities in St. Genevieve and other counties. 

NICKEL. 

Tliis valuable metal, is also workcil in Mine La 
Motte in considerable quantities. 

TIN. 

It is claimed that tin exists in several counties in 
Southeast Missouri ; but this claim is somewhat 
doubtful, and certainly the ores have never been 
sn<'cessfully reduced. 

MAKBLE. 

Numerous and extensive beds of excellent marble 
have been found in different parts of the State, and 
some quarries have been opened and worked. 
There have been several varieties of marble from 



Missouri used in the erection of buildings. Some 
of them are tine grained, have beautiful shades and 
are very durable. One of these varieties of marble, 
commercially known as onyx, or onyx marble, a 
stalagmite formation found in the beds of caves, 
exists in considerable quantities in Crawford, 
Washington, Franklin and ])erhaps other counties. 
It is, we believe, not found elsewhere in the United 
States, and has l)een an .article of importation from 
jVlgiers and Mexico. Possessing the properties of 
resisting acids, and not staining like ordinary 
marble, it is extensively used for mantels, fine fur- 
niture, etc. 

LIMESTONES. 

There is a great variety of excellent limestone 
throughout all sections of the State. Some of these 
are nearly pure carbonate of lime, and supply an 
abundance of quick lime ; others supply fine build- 
ing stones, and are extensively used in all towns. 
Hydraulic limes are abundant in numerous locali- 
ties, and some of them have been tested with goofl 
results. 

GYPSUM. 

No extensive beds of gypsum have been found in 
the State; but its existence in large quantities in 
Iowa and Kansas, not far from the borders of Mis- 
souri, gives cheap supplies when wanted for a 
fertilize!-, or for other uses. 

SULPHATE OF BARYTA. 

Tliis mineral is found in a pure white form iu 
vast quantities. It is largely utilized as a pigment 
in connection with lead, and may be used with the 
ochers found here in the preparation of mineral 
paints. Its great weight and durability will give 
these materials more body and stability. 

KAOLIN. 

This valuable clay has been found in a few places, 
and, it being a decomposed feld-spar, it is generally 
thought that large quantities of it will be found in 
Southern Missouri. Shipments of kaolin have been 
made from Southeastern INIissouri. 

pottp:rs" clays. 

These Clays are found in abundance and worked 
in many parts of the State. They are also exten- 
sively shipped out of the 'State to supply manufac- 
turers of sewer pipe, tiling and pottery at other 
points. 

FIRE clays. 

The manufa(;ture of Are bricks, gas latorts and 
other articles requiring the most refractory clays, 
has long been extensively carried on in St. Loui.s 
County. These clays occur here in the lower coal 
series and exist in great quantities. There are 
many beds of these clays found in the counties 
north of the Missouri River, and theii' quantity is 
almost beyond computation. The most of tliem 
possess very line refractory properties. Fire rock 
has also been found in abundance, some of the 
silicious beds of the coal measiires, being very 
refractory. 



30 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



PAINTS. 

There are several beds of shales in the coal meas- 
ures which possess the properties for paint for 
outside works. Yellow and red ochers are found in 
large quantities in the ii-on districts, and these 
paints are ground .and shipped very largely. Some 
of them iire thoroughly lire-proof and durable. 
There are extensive beds of ferruginous clays which 
make paints of the best qualities for all the shades 
of brown and dark red. These ochers, mixed with 
baryta and lead, make beautiful pigments. 

STONES FOR BUILDING . 

The sandstones, granites, limestones and marbles 
of the State supply an abundance of fine and dura- 
ble stones for all- building and architectur.il uses. 
Sandstones are found in many beautiful shades of 
brown, red and buff, which are easily worked when 



taken from the quarries, and harden upon exposure- 
lied granite is abundant and much used for strong, 
heavy work. Gray gi-anites which split and work 
well and are most durable, are the most desirable of 
all building stones. 

ROAD MATERIALS. 

Tlie State has an abiindance of the very best ma- 
terials for making roads. Hard limestone, granite, 
chert, green stone and trap, all make superior 
paving blocks. Pebbles and gravels are abundant 
in the drift, and in the beds of most of the streams, 
and are almost everywhere in the State easily 
obtainable. 

This brief statement of the useful minerals shows 
that Nature h.is been lavish in supplying Missouri 
with materials useful in promoting her growth iind 
prosperity. 



Manuiactures. 



Theiollowing statistics of the capital employed 
In manufacturing industries, and the amount of 
-production is collated from careful estimates made 
in 1S76; but it is the opinion of leading business men 
that the increase in the past four years has been 
very large : 

These estimates showed that the State then con- 
tained U,245 manufacturing establishments, using 
], 965 steam engines, representing 58, 101 horse -power; 
4fi5 water wheels, equaling 7,972 horse-power, and 
employing 80,000 hands. The capital employed in 
manufacturing was about $100,000,000; the material 
used in 1876 amounted to about $140,000,000; the 
wages paid were $40,000,000, and tlie products put 
upon tlie m.arket Avere over $250,000,000. Outside of 
St. Louis, the leading manufacturing counties of 
the State are Jackson, about $2,000,000 ; Buchanan, 
$7,000,000; St. Charles, $4,.'i00,000; Marion, $3,500,000; 
Franklin, $0,000,000 ; Greene, $1,.500,000; Cape Girar- 
deau, $1,500,000; Platte, Boone and Lafayette, up- 
wards of $1,000,000 e;ich, followed by sever.al coun- 
ties nearly reaching the Last sum. 

STATISTICS OF PRODUCTION. 

The products of the different lines of manufac- 
turing interests are, approximately, as follows: 

Flouring Mills $40,000,000 

Carpentering 20,000,000 

Meat Packing 20,000,000 

Iron and Castings 15,000,000 

Tobacco 14,000,000 

Clothing. 11,000,000 

Liquors 10,000,000 

l>umber 10,000,000 

Bags and Bagging 7,000,000 

Saddlery 7,000,000 

Oil 6,000,000 

Machinery 6,000,000 



Printing and Publishing $5,500,000 

Molasses 5,000,000 

Boots and Shoes 5,000,000 

Furniture 5,000,000 

Paints and Painting 4,500,000 

Carriages and Wagons 4,500,000 

Bricks 4,500,000 

Marble, Stone -work and Masonry. 4,000,000 

Bakery Products 4,000,000 

Tin, Copper .and Sheet Iron 4,000,000 

Sash, Doors and Blinds 3,250,000 

Cooperiige 3,000,000 

Blacksmithing 3,000,000 

Bridge Building 2,500,000 

Patent Medicines 2,500,000 

So<ap and Caudles 2,!>00,000 

Agricultural Implements 2,000,000 

Plumbing and Gas -fitting 2,000,000 

Of the manufacturing in Missouri, more than 
three -fourths is done in St. Louis, which produced, 
in 1879, about $275,000,000 of manufactured .articles. 
The city has, for some years past, ranked as the 
third in the United States in the amount of her 
manufactures, leaving a wide gap between her and 
Chicago and Boston, each of Avhich cities manufac- 
tures a little more than one -half as much in .amount 
as St. Louis, and leaves a doubt as to which of them 
is entitled to rank as the fourth manufacturing 
city. 

It is apparent that tlie manufacturing industries 
are capable of great legitimate expansion. The 
importation of articles which might be manufac- 
tured at a profit in the State, and thus supply the 
home market, is very large. The people are alive to 
the importance of fostering this branch of commer- 
cial interest, and at all times extend a welcome, 
and, in numy instances, substantial assistance, to 
the manufacturing capitalist. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



31 



JPlour Manufacture. 



When a great State opens its doors, and, by tlie 
authority of its citizens, invites the people of all 
other States, of all other countries and climes, to 
seek homes within its borders, the first pertinent 
inquiry from those to whom the invitation is issued, 
is thii^ : Can you supply us abundantly and cheaply 
with this staff of life? A prompt affirmative is re- 
turned from every one who has even a meagre idea 
of the quality of grain produced in every part of 
Missouri, and of the flour turned out by hundreds of 
mills, which, in excellence, to-day is without a suc- 
cessful rival in the markets of the world. 

Description has been given of the broad grain 
fields of the State, where a genial and benign cli- 
mate munificently rewaids the toil of the husband- 
man ; of the fertile and generous soils which, for 
lack of labor, have not yet reached a hundredth 
part of their producing capacity ; of the elements 
profusely combined, which, in the near coming 
years, will make the great central State the fore- 
most of food producers. It is appropriate and prof- 
itable to tell only of the enterprise and the skill of 
that class of citizens who transform the products 
of the field into the natural and necessary ali- 
ment of mankind. 

MILLING ADVANTAGES IN MISSOURI. 

The milling interests of Missouri constitute 
one of its most valuable ahd conspicuous indus- 
tries. They are in the hands of men who have 
practically demonstrated that milling can be car- 
ried on in Missouri as successfully as in the most 
favored of the States — far more so than in the most 
of them. Yet, as extensive as they are shovsTi 
to be, they are not nearly equal to the business of 
supplying the home wants, and at the same time 
meeting the pressing demand in other States and in 
foreign markets, a demand created by the superior 
excellence of their manufactures. 

Aware of this fact, the millers of Missouri are 
more than anxious that capital to a much gi-eater 
extent than now exists should enter Missouri; that 
othei-s should share in the profits and rewards of a 
business which they cannot fully compass, and 
which, as experience has shown, enters so largely 
into the general wealth producing power. If this be 
true with the population and trade of the State, 
standing as it does to-day, how much more so will it 
be when intelligent efforts will be crowned with de- 
sired results ; when the tides of population stream- 
ing from the East and from beyond the sea, will be 
turned into the borders of the Staite and tlie numbers 
doubled. 

A few statistics will show how Missouri stands in 
this matter: 

AMOUNT OF PRODUCTS. 

There are in the State, in round numbers, about 
nine hundred floui'ing mUls, as against four hun- 
dred and fifty, as shown by the census of 1870. The 
amount of flour produced by those outside of St. 
Ix)uis is not at hand.with sufficient accuracy to be 



stated. In some portions of the State the local 
demand is not supplied, but in many others more is 
made than is required at home, and the excellence 
of what is nuide may be inferred from the fact 
that in the hands of St. Louis dealers, and under 
the very shadows, as it were, of the great city mills, 
the flour and meal made by the mills of the interior, 
find a ready and remunerative market. 

In the city of St. Louis there are twenty-four miUs, 
which manufactured last year 2,142,949 barrels of 
flour, and having a daily turn-out of over 11,000 btfr- 
rels. It will be interesting to note the growth of 
tills great business in the more recent past. In 1850 
St. Louis manufactured only about 400,000 barrels. 
In 18G0 the amount liad more than doubled, reach- 
ing that year 839,000 barrels. Owing to the war and 
the resulting effects, Miiich bore heavily upon all 
St. Louis industries, there was no further increase 
till 1869, when the production went beyond 1,000,000 
barrels, and, following the rule of uninterrupted 
progress, doubled in the following decade, reaching 
2,000,000 in 1878, and in the ensuing year showing a 
still more rapid increase, tlie product of 1879 being 
216,659 barrels greater than that of 1878. 

But the trade is not to be measured alone by the 
amount of flour manufactured. Tlie receipts from 
other markets during the last years of the civil waj 
were greater than the manufactures, which showed 
both the stagnation of the home industry and the 
value and distributing capacity of the St. Louis 
market, even under adverse circumstances. Only 
since 1871 has the manufacture of flour exceeded 
the receipts from other markets. From that year, 
however, the distance between the t\Yo has steadily 
widened. Last year the amount manufactured ex- 
ceeded the amount received from other points by 
more than a quarter million of barrels. 

The total amount of flour received and manufac- 
tured by the dealers and millers of St. Louis, in 1879, 
was 4,154,757 barrels, of which over 3,000,000 were ex- 
ported. It should be borne in mind, too, that besides 
the flour manufactured by St. Louis millers in 1879, 
they also made 425,963 barrels of corn ineal and 28,-' 
595 barrels of hominy and grits, these articles being 
quadrupled in production during the decade. Of 
the exports above noted, St. Louis millers and deal- 
ers sent last year to foreign countries, 619,103 barrels, 
these being sent to leading European nations and to 
South America, and in all markets St. Louis flour, 
and flour from other sections of the State, bears a 
reputation and commands prices above aU other 
flours. Its excellence is attested by the additional 
fact that at the World's Fairs at Paris, Vienna and 
Philadelphia, it bore away the first premium. 

SUPERIOR WHEAT AND FLOUR. 

There is another valuable commercial fact. Flour 
made from wheat grown in Missouri can stand trans- 
portation to the southern latitudes, r.ud through the ' 
tropics, without being damaged, an excellence, in 
wliich it, is only approached by that made from wheat 
grown in the similar latitude of Maryland an*? V". 



32 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



ginia, and which makes St. Louis flour more sought 
lor than all others for shipment to Rio, the West 
Indies, and other markets witliin and beyond the 
tropical latitudes. Thus, the two-fold advantage of 
the State and the city can be easily comprehended— 
the one inviting the farmer to the cultivation of its 
grain-fields, -which lie near the center of the great 
and unrivaled winter wheat belt ; the other inviting 



the capitalist to iiarticipatioii in an iiidustrutl branch 
foremost in profit and world-wide in respcptabilily. 
As in the one there are vast bodies of lands, as well 
adapted to the ])rodu('tion of the cereals as those 
which now repay tlie farmer's care, so in tiie other, 
investment and enterprise will as surely bring re- 
wards as they have already brought them to the 
milling interests of the city and State. 



The Manufacture of Wool, Cotton and Paper. 



History teaches that a people, who with raw pro- 
ducts alone, attempt to contest lor wealth and 
population against a people elaborating those pro- 
ducts, are sure to be worsted. 

t'NLIMITEL* WATEU-POWEK. 

Missouri has not only an abundance of wool, 
cotton and other essential raw materials, but is 
fortunate in having a swift creator of wealth— the 
most important demand of all active civilizations— 
an unlimited water-power. In this element of 
wealth— cheap motive power— this State is rich in- 
deed. Kot in all the Eastern States can there be 
found such a rolling, rapid stream as the Gasconade, 
about eighty-five miles from St. Louis. Here, every 
two miles or less, is there sufficient fall to raise a dam 
that would afford power sulBcient to run five hun- 
dred looms. Magnificent poM'ers are lying idle on 
the Osage, Grand River, Meramec, Bla.ck, White, 
St. Francis, Currant, and numberless other streams 
within the borders of the State. And there is, per- 
haps, one of ,the giandest possible water-powers in 
the West or South, almost under the shadoAV of St. 
Louis. 

It is believed to be practicable to tap the Missouri 
river at or near Tavern Rock, in western part of the 
St. Louis county, and to cousti-uct an artificial 
water-way down the valley by the way of and taking 
in its course Creve Coeuer lake, only 16 miles from 
the city, where a fall of fully thirty-two feet could 
be secured to the banks of the Des Peres, or even 
pass through the southern ])ortion of the city of St. 
Louis, and empty into the Mississippi river above 
the mouth of the Des Peres. This would 
afford power equal to any now utilized in New- 
England, and enable the factories on its banks the 
entire distance to stand within one mile or less of 
each other, without interference from back water. 
Here twenty cotton and woolen mills could be 
erected, backed by superior location and facilities 
offered by the city of St. Louis. 

DESIRABLE LOCATION FOR PAPER MILLS. 

Creve Coeuer lake is a large body of beautiful soft 
water, free of those melaloids that unfit it for 
bleaching goods and nianufaclurc of paper. These 
industries would find here an admirable location, 
especially the paper mills. Materials for its manu- 
facture are produced all around the lake, and 
poplar, that now furnishes about seventy -five per 
cent, of the material for manufacture of books and 



newspapers, grows in great abundance within a very 
few miles of the spot where the mills would be 
erected. The balance of paper material — straw, 
rags and cotton waste — would be supplied from the 
farms and mills and the markets of St. Louis, all 
very close at hand. Platin Creek, twenty miles 
below St. Louis, is a beautiful stream of clear water 
flowing from a sandstone bluff, soft as rain water ; 
is an admirable location for bleaching goods and 
the manufacture of paper; is accessible by the 
Mississippi River, into which it floAvs, and the Iron 
Mountain Railroad, which crosses it about ten mlies 
above its mouth, by which material and manu- 
factured goods could reach the mills and goods 
shipped to St. Louis at a small cost. 

Besides these rare advantages of water-powers, 
no State, perhaps, in the American Union has such 
extensive coal-beds to be found in almost every 
county in the State — aggregating •22,000 square miles 
of coal of excellent quality, mined so easily and 
cheaply as to make the use of steam in propelling 
machinery almost as cheap as water-power. Cheap 
fuel for steam and general family uses would 
enable manufacturei-s to erect works in a majority 
of the cities and towns of Missouri where operatives 
have their homes, and children working in the 
factories could live witli their parents and add to 
the family revenues by the labor they perform in 
the cotton and woolen mills. 

Another most important matter underlying suc- 
cessful manufacturing in the State of Missouri is, 

CHEAP FOOD FOR OPER.^TIVES. 

In Missouri, food for man and boast must always 
be cheap and abundant. 

St. Louis, being Missouri's great metropolis, en- 
trepot and store-house for ])ro visions, as well as her 
great commercial mart, and possessing unsurpassed 
facilities to meet the competition of the world in all 
kinds of manufactured goods and disti'ibution t" 
the markets of the world, has immense capabilities, 
and presents magnificent advantages to manufac- 
turers to erect works within her gates. Official re- 
ports and statistics, made up by the Mer<;hauts' 
Produce Exchange, fully establishes St. I^uis to be 
the second (soon to become the first) grain market 
in the Mississippi Valley. The city mills have a 
capacity to manufacture 12,000 barrels of flour per 
day, and the annual i)roducl in 1879 was 2,142,ir)0 
barrels, in addition to which the commission mer- 
chants received and iiandlcd 1,607,2:^6 ban-els during 



Hand- Book or Missouri. 



33 



the same period. Aljout 75 per cent, or 2,8r2,640 
barrels of this' flour were sent to the Eastern States, 
either by water-route, via Kew Orleans, or by all 
rail, across the country, at a cost averaging nearly 
one dollar per barrel, which was paid, in large part, 
by the operatives of factories and work-shops of 
the Eastern States, and for sizing for the cotton 
nulls turning out bleached goods and prints of all 
grades. 

In St. Louis no such tax will be laid on food, for 
her store-houses are always full of breadstuffs and 
provisions, in first hands, and where one dollar to- 
day will buy more of the necessities of life than in 
any city in the United States. New England is not an 
agricultural country; she must necessarily draw 
largely from the West; and, where freights, com- 
missions, and dealers' profit are added to those 
common necessities of life, bread and meat, they 
must, of necessity, cost the consumer more by just 
so much as will transport them from the West, and 
pay all attendant charges. Consequently, labor 
must be paid relatively more, in order to subsist. 

A HOME MAKKET. 

Here manufacturers have the great advantages of 
a home market for articles turned out of looms and 
furnaces. St. Louis has been for years a full port of 
entry and appraisement. The ability of her mer- 
clmnts to duplicate any bill of foreign goods pur- 
chased on the Atlantic seabord, has drawn to her a 
i'.lass of buyers that hitherto purchased only in the 
markets of the East. This has greatly augmented 
her trade in domestic fabrics, and to-day she is the 
largest market in the Mississippi Valley for sxich 
goods. 

Statistics taken from the books of tlie wholesale 
merchants of this citj:, and not from approximate 
stocks, show an immen'^e trade in such fabrics — in- 
deed, all and more than half a dozen mills of large 
capacity could produce in a steady yearly run. The 
cost of transportation is so small to Quincy, Keokuk, 
St. Paul, and cities of the Upper Mississippi River, 
Kansas City, St. Joseph, Leavenworth, and cities on 
the Missouri River and interior, and Springfield, 
Jacksonville, and even Chicago, that all of these 
cities conld and would buy the same goods of the 
factories in St. Louis, if mills had the capacity to 
prodiice them. 

The fabric mills at Augusta, Georgia, have been 
established for many years, and have passed thi-ough 
two panics and one war, making money all the time. 
The capital stock invested in erection was paid 
back six times in twenty years, and, up to the day 
the mills were partially destroyed by fire, were 
making annually twenty per cent, dividend to the 
owners. The Pha?nix mills, at Columbus, (^a., are a 
gi-eat success— erected in 1806— have passed through 
all years of depression since then— running full 
time and behind orders — have, since completion, 
divided to tlieir stockholders over .fl,000,000 in divi- 
dends. 

The same may be said of the mills of other South- 
ern States, and the reason of their success is appar- 
ent. They are located where the material to manu- 
facture is produced, or is collected without cost of 
transportation. In close proximity, food for opera- 
tives is produced, and delivered without commis- 
6ioB, transportation, interest, or exchange, and, not 



the least important, they have a home nuirket lor 
nearly all of the goods they can produce. Not hav- 
ing three freights to pay on material, food and on 
manufactured products, they can, and always will, 
undersell the mills of the East, that are compelled 
to pay these inevitable charges. The receipts of 
cotton at St. Louis for the season of 1879-80 will not 
be far from .500,000 bales. The receipts of wool for 
1879 were 20,786,642 poiinds. Here is material abun- 
dant and cheap — being in first hands — free of trans- 
portation, e.Kch.ange, commission, interest and other 
charges, and a market right at the mill door for 
the goods. 
In view of these facts and advantages Missouri 

IKVITES CAPITAL AXD MACHINERY 

to settle within her environs. Her manufacturer.^ 
are assured of a ready sale for all the goods a dozen 
mills could produce, and at such prices and saving 
in production as will pay a magnificent dividend on 
capital wisely expended. The wholesale jobbers 
are, without exception, anxious to see such mills 
established in Missouri, and will at all times give 
preference to home-made products over goods made 
outside of the State. 

There are in South (Jarolina .seventeen factories 
devoted to the production of cotton cloth and yarn. 
They have, in the aggregate, 95,438 spindles, with 
1,9;W looms, in operation ; they produce 101,.538 yards 
of cloth and 17,183 pounds of yarn, and consume 
54,040 i)ounds of cotton a day; they employ 2,296 op- 
eratives, who, in turn, support 7,913 persons de- 
pendent upon them; the aggregate monthly pay- 
ments being $38,000. The capital employed in the 
seventeen mills is $2,228,600, and their estimated 
value is $2,844,600. The profits range from eighteen 
to fifty per cent, per annum, the fifty per cent, being 
the return of tlie Westminster factory, the well- 
known home of the famous "Clement attachment," 
which converts seed cotton into yarn. At the other 
factories the profits range from eighteen to twenty- 
five and a half per cent. Nearly all these mills are 
located in the upper and middle counties of the 
State, where water-power is abundant and cheap ; 
but it is asserted that even if this advantage were 
wanting, and the mills were dependent on steam- 
power, they would still yield good profits. 

And yet Missouri is better located, and has ad- 
vantages infinitely superior to South Carolina; 
and, in facilities of wide distribution, is su- 
perior to any State. And in St. Louis, the supply 
of labor — men and boys, women and girls— for all 
kinds of manufactures, is necessarily more abun- 
dant, cheaper, and more reliable, than in any other 
Southern State. 

UNSURPASSED TKANSPOBTATION FACIL- 
ITIES. 

St. Louis has a population of over 400,000 souls. 
She is not only the central figure on the map of 
Missouri, but of the Mississippi Valley. Her loca- 
tion on the " Father of Waters," with a commercial 
marine of over 100,000 tons, commands over 16,000 
miles of navig.able water. Her trade upon this 
great river begins far up toward the region of the 
Arctic ices, and extends through the orange grores 



34. 



IIand-Book of Missouri. 



into the tropics. Her tributaries — Missoui-i, Illinois, 
Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, AYhite and Red 
Rivers, with the Yazoo and navigable bayous — en- 
able her, with water craft, to touch the shores and 
centers of over half the States of this Union. This 
immense advantage of navigation is supplemented 
by twenty- two railroads in active opei-ation, reach- 
ing far and wide into the interior of the States, the 
lakes of the Xorth, gulf on the South, and both 
oceans. 

These magnificent water lines and railroad con- 
nections afford her people the means of cheap and 
rapid transit, unequaled by any commercial center 
on the American continent. On the Mississippi 
River there is carried annually property aggregat- 
ing, in dollars and cents, more value than all the 
foreign commerce. And now that the great high- 
way is open to the sea for the largest ships, through 
the jetties, the trade of the great river will largely 
increase. A single tow-boat has i-ecentiy moved, 
in barges, fi-oni the elevators to Xew Orleans, and 
safely landed, 290,000 bushels of corn in one cargo, 
and could have added 100,000 more at Cairo, if the 
shipment had been ready— this is but the beginning 
of such valuable and enormous shipments of cere- 
als. These unprecedented advantages of cheap 
transit are supplemented by twenty-two raih-oads, 
ten being great trunk lines, with immense equip- 
ment, pushing out to every point of the compass, 
and centering in one common depot, almost in the 
very heart of the city. New lines are being built 
south and southwest into a territory all her own, 
and where no rival can compete with her. Soon 
the waters of the Rio Grande and the Pacific will 
be reached by two lines directly tributary to St. 
Louis, upon which (being south of the snow line) 
the products of Lower Texas, California, the Sand- 
wich Islands, China, Japan— in fact, all of Eastern 
Asia — will be brought to her store-houses, in ex- 
change for manufactured goods turned out of her 



workshops, mills and foundries. Mexico will soon; 
be opened by rail, to exchange silver, coffee, sugar, 
rice, indigo, lichugea, ratama, and many i)roducts 
of value, now little known, for cotton and woolen 
goods, agricultural implements, engines, mill ma- 
chinery—in fact, all articles of handicraft, of which 
she manufactures almost none at all, and for vrhich 
she is dependent, to-day, on England, giving to her 
trade, through her seapoi-ts, nearly $i?0,0GG,COO 
per year. The larger part of this immense trailic 
can be diverted to St. Louis by reason of her loc-a- 
tion and her railroads. 

TRADE CHANNELS. 

The great empire of Texas, 1,000 miles long and 
nearly 1,000 miles wide — rich in minerals nnd ievtile 
lands, and blessed with a climate of unsuri'^issed 
excellence, winter and summer, is capable of s-.;s- 
taining a population of 20,000,000. This State is but 
in its infancy, yet to-day raises one-sixth of the 
entire cotton crop of the United States, and, when 
fully developed, will send to market more fine wool, 
sheep and cattle than all the States of New Eng- 
land, New York, Pennsyh auja and Ohio combined. 
Texas is and must continue tributary to St. Louis, 
made so by the city's well conceived system of 
southwestern railways, penetrating, ortopenecrate, 
all parts of that wonderful countrv. 

The Indian Territory, by nature more beautiful 
and attractive, perhaps, than any other pai-t of the 
United States, has not reached the first period of 
development. This magnificent counti'y, destined 
to add two States of unsurpassed richness to the 
American I'nion, lies almost at the door of St. 
Louis, and must ever be allied to it in trade and 
commerce as closely as are the southwest counties 
of Missouri. 

Such is the country tributary to St. Louis, and 
such the area to supply with manufactured goods. 



Cotton Trade. 



There is, probably, no branch of trade that fur- 
nishes a more striking example of what can be ac- 
complished by energy and perseverance, toward 
breaking down the accepted theories that commerce 
must move in certain channels, than the rapid 
growth of St. Louis as a cotton market during the 
past decade. 

It has been an accepted theory, for almost a cen- 
tury, that cotton must seek a market by water trans- 
portation, and hence that cities siluated on the Gulf, 
and accessible to the interior by the great rivers of 
the country, were the natural depots and markets 
for all the cotton of the Mississippi Valley from 
which to supply the markets of the world ; that no 
mode of transportation, no means could be devised 
hy which the cotton and other products of this great 
valley could be diverted from Nature's great high- 
ways for floating them to the sea ; that it was absurd 
to attempt to turn this branch of commeixo from the 



old established routes and make it flow up-stream. 
But, about seven years ago, a few en teri)rising men 
in St. Louis organized a companj' to combat I his 
theory. Tliey based their hopes of success on the 
assiunptionthat railroad transportationwa^3,in fact, 
superior to water — that they could furnish facilities 
for handling this staple superior and cheaper than 
could be fui-nished by the Gulf cities; that a bale of 
cotton would yield nu>re money to the producer in 
St. Louis than in New Orleans or Galveston. 
To cheapen the cost of 

HANDLING AND TERMINAL CHAKGKS 

on cotton, they combined their ware-hout>es, rail- 
road depots and compresses in one system of build- 
ings. The cotton was unloaded directly from the 
cai-s into their covered ware-honscs, thus obviating 
all liability to damage, saving the expense of dray- 
age, and doing away with the necessity for broker- 



Haxd-Book of Missouri . 



35 



age and all middle men. By this means they eflfected 
a total saving to the iii-oducei- of about one dollar and 
fifty cents per bale. 

THE SUPERIORITY OF THIS MARKKT 

was seen in another important feature, that is, the 
" puiThasing power " of a bale of cotton, aside from 
its value in dollars and cents. On the supposition 
that a bale of cotton would bring the same price in 
St. Louis as in other Southern cities, say sixty-five 
dollars per bale, (being about the average price of 
the present crop), the planter soon found that with 
that sixty-five dollars invested in such supplies as 
lie might need, he could buy from five to six dollars 
worth more in St. Louis than he could iu New Or- 
leans or other Southern cities ; thus making a ditf er- 
ence iu the actual value of a bale of cotton iu these 
different markets of from five to eight dollars in 
favor of St. Louis. 

The result has been a marvelous increase of the 
cotton trade of St. Louis. The receipts for 1869-70 
were W,2<>1 bales. The receipts for 1879-80 to AprU 
9, were 457,563 bales, and at the end of the cotton 
year, September 1st, will be about 500,000 bales, 
which, at sixty-fire dollars a bale, will bring $,S2,- 
500,000. This exceeds b}- several millions the money 
value of the entire grain trade of the city. 

The possibility of directing a large portion of the 

COTTON TRADE TO ST. LOUIS, 

and Its great value to the city as well as to the great 
lines of railway extending dowu into the cotton belt, 
and to those leading to the chief export cities of the 
Atlantic, and to the manufacturing districts of the 
East, are now fully demonstrated and established. 
The combined capital of this city, together with that 
invested in these vast trunk lines of railway, ^\-l11 
then assist in not only holding what has been already 
secured, but iu u.sing this combined power to draw 
and concentrate greater supplies for the future. 

The world's demand for cotton is increasing at 
the rate, perhaps, of 500,000 bales per annum. This 
increase must mainly come from the gi-eat States 
of Arkansas, Texas and the Indian Temtory, as yet 
almost entirely undeveloped. 

But a few years ago the cotton produced iu the 
United States was chiefly raised east of the Missis - 
Bippi Riv^er ; now about one-thu'd of the entire pro- 
duction comes from the States west of the Missis- 
sippi River. Texas, with its 275,000 square miles, 
possesses good cotton-producing soil, more than 
j5uflicient to supply the present total demands of 
the world. And Arkansas and the Indian country 
are equally imjiortant factors to be considei-ed iu 
the great future supply of " clothing for the world." 

A large portion of this vast territory is more 
accessible to this city than to the Uulf or Atlantic 
cities. Indeed, much of the best interior cotton 
region is nearer to St. Louis than any other access- 
ible shipping point ou any good, navigable river; 
and by exten<Jiug the railroad system of St. Louis 
into these great States and Territory, there is an 
equal, if not a better chance to receive the advan- 
tages of this valuable commerce than any other 
citj' that would be likely to become a competitor iu 
the trade. 



RAILWAY ADVANTAGES. 

It is "now an established fact that rivers, as a 
, means of collecting and distributing the internal 
; commerce of a country, are less elflcacious than 
I raUroads. Appreciating this fact the cotton mer- 
; chants of St. Louis, not content Mith the magnifi- 
j cent system of railroads penetrating the immense 
' cotton region east of the Mississippi River, and cen - 
i tering in this city, have nearly completed two hun- 
• dred and fifty miles of new road in Texas, which 
aione will add 100,000 bales to the receipts of cotton, 
next year, in St. Louis. And several other lines are 
' being constructed, having their termini in this city, 
which will largely increase its cotton trade both in 
Arkansas and Texas. The next decade will prob- 
ably show a much more rapid and satisfactory in- 
crease than the one which has just passed. 
' Another element in the permanent character and 
I probable increase of the cotton trade of St. Loula is, 
I the probable 

INCREASE OF COTTON MANUFACTURE. 

There are in the city two mills, which consume 
from 15,000 to 20,000 bales annually. To supply the 
manufactured cotton goods annually sold in St. 
Louis will require mills of ten times the capacity of 
those now in operation. 

A revolution is going on iu the manufacturing in- 
terest of the world. To save double freights — on 
the raw material and on the manufactured ar- 
ticle — the mill owners of New England are 
seriously considering the question of removing 
their mills nearer the cotton producing districts. 
And Old England has become still more alarmed at 
the rapid progress which the United States has 
made in the last decade in supplying manufac- 
tured cotton goods to other counti-ies, besides 
almost stopping the importation to this country. It 
has been demonstrated that the Fall River mills 
can, as they have, profitably undersell the English 
manufacturers in the markets of Great Britain. 

St. Louis is one of the healthiest cities in the 
world. Here thei-e will even be an ample supph' of 
labor. Geogi-aphically it is the very heart of the 
greatest and best agricultural region on the conti- 
nent. Its surroundings and its unequaled railroad 
system make it the stoi-e -house for the food -pro- 
ducing districts of the Western hemisphere, and it 
must become the distributing center and the com- 
mercial exchange for this vast region. Health, 
cheap food, cheap materials for building, cheap 
fuel, proximity and ready access to the best cotton - 
producing belt, assuring an abundant supply of the 
raw material, must insure successful manufacturing. 
And in all these things St. Louis is without a rival. 

But whether or not, St. Louis will become the 
great commercial exchange between the producer 
and the consumer, or the home of the great manu- 
facturing interests of textile fabrics, the assurance 
may be felt that its cotton ti-ade will not only be 
permanent, but there is every reason to believe that 
it will become the greatest cotton market on this 
continent ; and that instead of handling one-half 
million bales, it will, in the next decade, be » 
market for two million bales per annum. 



36 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



Labor and Wages. 



In regard to the attitude of the laboring classes in 
Missouri, their privileges, rights and prospects, it 
can be said : 

1. The course of legislation in Missouri has wisely 
tended uniformly toward the protection of the rights 
of the lal)orer, so that he has now a lien iipon 
property improved by hira, and no property of 
the employer is exempt from seizure, on exe- 
cution issued by virtue of a judgment obtained for 
"wages. 

2. The climate of Missouri is such as to allow la- 
borers to work more days in the year than in other 
States of the Union. In the Northern and Eastern 
States the great depth of snow and extreme 
cold prevent out-door labor for four to six 
months in the year, so that the profits made 
during the remainder of tiie year are wholly ap- 



propriated to feed the stock of farmers and support 
families. 

3. Missouri has not yet made serious inroads upon 
her vast natural resources. Her forests are yet to 
be leveled, her mines developed and worked, her 
countless acres subdued and cultivated. Again, as 
she has unprecedented productive power, as varied 
as great, so she has by her marvelous transportation 
facilities, gi-eat advantages over States not as for- 
tunately circumstanced — hence, her products find 
a ready market at fair prices, and the industry of 
man obtains a speedy and adequate reward. 

4. The wages paid in Missouri, regard being had 
to the time a laborer may work in a year, the cost of 
living, including food and clothing, compare favor- 
ably witli wages in any other State, and are higher 
than in a great majority of the States. 



Railways and Transportation. 



The first inquiry the immigrant wholly unac- 
quainted with Missouri makes is: "At what point is 
it best I shall enter the State, and what are the 
advantages when I reach it? " 

The main place of entrance, and that affording by 
far the greatest facilities, is the City of St. Louis. 

St. Louis is situated, most advantageously, in the 
Mississippi Valley, and nearer the geographical 
center of the United States than any other large 
commercial city, it having an unrivaled advantage 
of a longer railway sweep, so to speak, in every 
direction over all others. 

From this city radiating lines of trunk railways 
reach over five hundred miles north; over one 
thousand miles east and south, and over two thou- 
sand miles west, making a much grander and moi-e 
comprehensive railway central position and con- 
nections for the City of St. Louis than can be 
claimed, or even approached, so far as mileage is 
concerned, by any other city, either in the United 
States or elsewhere upon the face of the globe. 

Next in importance as a portal for immigrants to 
Missouri, going westward, is the City of Hannibal, 
on the Mississippi River, one hundred and nine 
miles above St. Louis; then Louisiana, twenty-five 
miles below Hannibal, and West Quincy, twenty 
miles above the City of Hannibal. 

The immigrant at this distant locality does not 
want much generalization, but naturally inquires : 
" When I shall have reached the State of Missoui-i, 
What facilities does its system of railways afllord?" 

Before proceeding to particularize, it may be 
stated that allot the trunk line railroads iuTtlissouri 
run from two to four passenger and express trains 
daily each way, with Pullman palace, llorton's 
reclining chair and other cars attached, equal to tlie 
best, either in this country or Lurope. 

All St. Louis passenger trains arrive at and depart 
from the Union Depot in tliat city. 



THE MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILWAY. 

Its main line runs from St. Louis to Kansas City, 
and by leased lines extends directly to St. Joseph. 

Starting at St. Louis, the road runs in a genetal 
course Avestward, through the fertile agricultural 
counties of St. Louis, Franklin, Gasconade, Osage, 
Cole, Moniteau, Morgan, Cooper, Pettis, Johnson 
and Jackson to Kansas City — 2S3 miles ; thence up 
the south bank of the Missouri River, in the State of 
Kansas, to Atchison— 47 miles; thence crossing the 
river, on a bridge, re-enters the State of Missouri and 
passes through the county of Buchanan to St. 
Joseph — time just sixteen hours. 

At Kirkwood, twelve miles out, there is a bi'anch 
diverging southeastwardly and connecting with the 
Iron Mountain road. 

At Pacific, 37 miles out, it connects with the St. 
Louis & San Francisco Railwaj'. 

At Jefferson City, the capital of the State, 125 miles, 
with a branch of the C. & A. Railroad, running 
through Calloway county, to Mexico, in Audrain. 

At Tipton, in Morgan county, 1G4 miles, connec- 
tion is made with Boouville, on the Missouri river, 
north, and with Versailles, in Morgan county, south. 

At Sedalia, Pettis county, 189 miles, it connects 
with the M., K., & T., S. W. & S. nari-ow gauge and 
its Lexington branch. 

At Holden, Johnson county, 233 miles, connects 
with its S. Louis and Arizona Division. 

At Pleasant HiU, Cass county, 248 miles, with a 
branch of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fc Railroad. 

At Kansas City, in Jackson county, 283 miles, next 
to St. Louis, the most important railroad centre in 
the State, with all the railroads radiating from that 
city. 

At Leavenworth, Kansas, 309 miles, willi the Kan- 
sas Central Narrow Gauge Railroad, >vhich is 
operat;!(( as a division of the Missouri I'acific Rail- 
road; and at Atchison, Kansas, willi li.e central 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



37 



branch of the Union Paciflc, which is also operated 
as a division of the Missouri Paciflc Railroad, 
with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, 
and with the Atchison & Nebraska Railroad. 

THE ST. LOUIS AND SAN FRANCISCO RAIL- 
WAY. 

Leaving St. Louis, this road uses the track of the 
Missouri Paciflc, 37 miles, to the town of Paciflc, 
in Franklin county, and thence diverges in a south- 
west direction and passes through the counties of 
Franklin, Crawford, Phelps, Pulaski, Laclede, Web- 
ster, Greene, Barry, Lawrence, Christian and 
Newton — eleven counties — containing as fertile 
lands as are to be found in the Mississippi Valley, 
and immense beds of iron, lead and zinc ores, the 
development of which forms one of the greatest 
industries in the State. 

The St. Louis and San Francisco Railway makes 
the following connections, viz. : 

At Paciflc, 37 miles from St. Louis, with the Mis- 
souri Paciflc Railway. 

At Cuba, in Crawford County, 90 miles, with the 
8t. Louis, Salem & Little River Railroad, which is 
operated as a branch. 

At Springfleld, in Greene County, 240 miles, 
with the Springfleld & Western Missouri Railroad, 
which is being extended northwestward to Kansas 
City. 

At Pierce City, in Lawrence County, 290 miles, 
with the Kansas Division of the St. Louis & San 
Francisco Railroad, extending westward toward 
the Paciflc Ocean; southei-n division going south- 
westward toward Galveston, through the Indian 
Territory. 

Just west of the State Line, at Vinita, in the 
Indian Territory, the present western terminus, 
we reach a connection with the Missouri, Kansas 
&• Texas Railroad. Over 440 miles of this great 
railway is in operation and 330 miles are in the 
Btate of Missouri. The managers are now arrang- 
ing to push this railway vigorously to the Pa- 
cific Ocean, thereby making it emphatically what its 
name indicates— a St. Louis and San Francisco 
railway. 

This company offers to immigrants over 1,000,000 
acres of choice lands on the line of its completed 
road, in the State of Missouri, at prices ranging from 
two dollars and fifty cents to eight dollars per acre, 
with long terms for payment, with free transpor- 
tation to purchasers, with their property, from St. 
Louis to said lauds. 

THE HANNIBAL AND ST. JOSEPH RAILROAD. 

ffhe main line from Hannibal, on the Mississippi, 
to St. Joseph, on the Missouri River, is two hundred 
and six miles in length, passing through the coun- 
ties of Marion, Ralls, Monroe, Shelby, Macon, Linn, 
Livingston, Caldwell, Clinton, DeKalb and Bu- 
chanan, with an extension of say twenty miles from 
St. Joseph to Atchison, in Kansas, and from Cameron, 
in Caldwell County, across the counties of Clinton 
and Clay, fifty-three miles to Kansas City. 

The Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, running 
east and west through the center of North Missouri, 
crosses and makes connection with all the numer- 
ous roads running north and south, and diagonally 
cross this division of the State, northwest and 



southwest fi'ora the Mississippi River. At St. Joseph 
it lias Connection with roads crossing the States of 
Kansas and Nebraska to a connection with the 
Union Paciflc. 

At Atchison, in Kansas, connections are made- 
with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the central 
branch of the Union Pacific, the Atchison and Ne- 
braska Road, running northward to Lincoln and 
beyond, and the Missouri Paciflc Road, and, flnally, 
at Kansas City it makes connection witii the great 
through lines running west and south to the gold 
and silver mining regions of tlie Rocky Mountains. 

Of the grant of land made by Congress to this 
road, tliere are still on hand and for sale not far 
from 140,000 acres, comprising both unimproved and 
improved lands, varying in price, according to 
quality and location, from two dollars and forty 
cents to flfteen dollars per acre, with easy terms of 
payment and low rates of interest. 

The territory traversed by this road is one of the 
most successful farming and stock-raising regions 
to be found in the gi-eat Valley of the Mississippi. 

Immense deposits of bituminous coal, in veins 
from three feet to six feet in thickness, underlie a 
good portion of the lands in Macon County, which 
yield a large yearly revenue to the people of that 
county. 

THE ST. LOUIS, IRON MOUNTAIN AND 
SOUTHERN RAILWAY 

connects with the St. Louis system of railroads at 
the Union Depot, and in the South, both east and 
west of the Mississippi River. Its connections are 
at Cairo with the Illinois railways ; at Columbus, 
Kentucky, with the South Atlantic system of rail- 
roads ; at Little Rock, with lines running east and 
west ; and at Texarkana with the Texas lines. From 
St. Louis to Texa;;kana is four hundred and ninety 
miles ; from St. Louis to Columbus is one hundred 
and ninety-six miles ; and the Poplar BlulT Branch to 
Cairo, Illinois, is seventy-six miles in length. Sev- 
eral lesser branches have been completed, and oth- 
ers are in course of construction to rich mines and 
agricultural districts. 

Many of the counties along the line in Missouri 
abound in vast quantities of iron and other ores, 
and tliousands of tons are being annually gotten out 
and shipped to mills in St. Louis and elsewhere; yet 
this feature is regarded rather as a guaranty of an 
immense future growth of manufacturing interests, 
and a large population is sure to gather where living 
is cheap and employment becoming every day more 
certain. 

The freight secured in tlie countiy along the line 
of road is at this time in greatest degree from the 
forest and the fields. 

The trees, wliich in the lowlands grow to a solid 
diameter of six feet, ai-e the oak, ash, poplar, wal- 
nut, satin-walnut, gum, cypress, and sycamore;. 
those which attain a solid diameter of four feet and 
raorc, are the hickory, pecan, catalpa, elm and sas- 
safras. The holly, bois-d'arc, cherry, maple, hack- 
berry, and other woods, grow to a large size. Prom 
these are made lumber, staves, wagons, furniture, 
agricultural implements, and other material for 
shii^ment, in the rough, to the many growing manu- 
facturing towns of the Eastern, Northern and 
Western country, whence they are sent to the four 
corners of the land. 



38 



Hand-Book or Missouri. 



WABASH, ST. LOUIS & PACIFIC RAILWAY, 

taken as a whole, is probably the most extended rail- 
road system in the West, owning and operating 
over two thoi;sand miles of road. 

This road runs from St. Louis in a direction gen- 
erally west by north. Crossing the Missouri River 
at St. Charles, and passing through the counties of 
St. Louis, St. Charles, Warren, Montgomery, and 
Audrain, to Centralia, 124 miles, the first branch 
from the main line readies southwest, 24 miles, 
to Columbia, the county seat of Boone County. 
Twenty-four miles further, it reaches Moberly, in 
Randolph County, from which point there is a very 
important branch, running north 131 miles, to 
Ottumna, in the State of Iowa, where it connects 
with lines to all points of Wisconsin and Minnesota. 
This branch road passes through the coimties of 
Randolph, Macon, Adair, and Schuyler, in this 
State. 

At Salisbury, in Chariton county, 21 miles from 
Moberly, another branch extends directly south, 1.5 
miles, to. Glasgow, in Howard county. 

From Salisbury to Brunswick, 18 miles still west- 
ward, the newly constructed Council Bluffs' division 
of this road reaches northwest 223 miles, through 
the counties of Chariton, Livingston, Davies, Gen- 
try, Nodaway and Atchison, to a connection with 
the TTnion Pacific at Omaha, shortening the distance 
between St. Louis and that important point over 
70 miles. 

Forty-eight miles further, through Carroll county, 
it reaches Lexington Junction, where another 
branch stretches northwesterly 73 miles, through 
Ray, Clinton and Buchanan counties, to St. Joseph, 
with its railroads reaching in the most direct man- 
ner, all points in Nebraska, Dakota and the North - 
w^est. . 

FromT>exington Junction to Kansas City, 42 miles, 
through Ray and Clay counties, it reaches the west- 
ern terminus of tlie main line, 277 miles from St. 
Louis. Here connection is made with the numer- 
ous lines stretching out to all sections of the great 
West and Southwest. 

This road is part of the great Gould "combina- 
tion," and the road or its branches crosses or con- 
nects with every other railroad in North Missouri. 

CHICAGO AND ALTON. 

Trains on this road leave the Union depot in St. 
LK)ui.s, and crossing on the St. Louis bridge, proceed 
up the east bank of the Mississippi River to a point 
opposite Louisiana, in Pike County, where the road 
re-crosses the river to Missouri. From Louisiana, it 
passes through the counties of Pike, Audrain, Boone, 
Randolph, Howard, Saline, Fayette and Jackson, to 
Kansas City. There is nowhere in this or any other 
country a richer or more beautiful region than that 
through which this road passes. 

THE MISSOURI, KANSAS & TEXAS RAILWAY. 

Starting at Hannibal, the eastern terminus of the 
Hannibal & St. Joseph Railway, this road runs 
southwestwardly through the old settled and rich 
counties of Marion, Ralls, Randolph, and Howard, 
toBoonville, on the Missouri River. Crossing the 
"Missouri at Boonville, the road enters Cooper 



County, through which it passes to Sedalia, an im- 
portant railroad center, in Pettis County; tlienco 
through Henry, St. Clair, and Vernon, into the 
southeastern corner of the State of Kansas, where it 
turns south, through the Indian Territory, to 
Texas. No traveler ever passed through a more in- 
viting country than the southwest counties of Mis- 
souri, through which this road runs. 

This is pre-eminently the leading line of communi- 
cation between the North and the Southwest. 

INCREASE OF MILEAGE. 

There are just 3,627 miles of completed railway, 
in full operation, within the limits of the State of 
Missouri, all having advantageous connections in 
every direction with railways in all the States bor- 
dering on our own. 

The inci-ease in mileage since June 30, 1878 — the 
date of the report of the State Board of Railroad 
Commissioners — has been at the rate of 268 miles 
per annum, and the prospects now are that for the 
present year it will be much greater than the last. 

The area of Missouri is 65,350 square miles, or 
41 ,S24, 000 acres, and the ])opulation, as nearly as it 
can be ascertained, is 2,300,000. It is divided, in- 
cluding St. Louis, into one hundred and fifteen coun- 
ties — forty-four on the north side of the Missouri 
River and seventy-one on the south. Of the former 
only two, viz., Harrison and Worth, are witlioutany 
raih'oads, and both these will be supi^lied the pres- 
ent year. Of the latter, twenty-five are without any 
railroads, but at least eight of them will be supplied 
during the year 1880. 

It, therefore, follows that Missouri averages one 
mile of railroad to every eighteen miles of territory, 
and to every six hundred and thirty -four inhabi- 
tants. And, as a matter of fact, our State has now 
more miles of railroad, in proportion to the popula- 
tion, than either Massachusetts or New York, and 
more than any of the countries of Europe, except 
only England and Belgium. 

The emigrant will find in this State, with easy 
access to railways, uncultivated and undeveloiied 
lands exceeding in area (as they far exceed in 
quality) the combined area of the entire seven 
States of Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, 
Delaware, New Hampsliire, New .Jersey and \'er- 
mont. 

There are more than 12,000 miles of navigable 
rivers in the Mississii)pi Valley, and the railroads 
more than double the length of the navigable 
rivers. 

Missoiiri, with her varied agricultural and mineral 
products, and by rea.son of her admirable system 
of railways, is now, and is destined evei* to be, yie 
greatest contributor to tlic grandeur and gloi-y of 
the Mississippi Valley. 

The late Hon. Wm. H. Seward said of Missouri : 

" I see here one State that is capable of assuming 
the great trust of being the middleman, the medi- 
ator, tlie common center between the Pacific and 
Atlantic; a State of vast extent, of unsurpassed 
fertility, of commercial facilities such as ai-e given 
to no other State on the continent; a State that 
grapples hold upon Mexico and Central America oh 
the south, and upon Russia and British America on 
the north, and through wliicli is the thorough f.ire lo 
the Golden Gate of the I^icific." 



Hand-Book of ^Iissouri. 



39f 



Postal Facilities. 



There is no State iu the Union, with a moi'C thor- 
ough postal service than Missouri. It is compre- 
hensive in its scope, affording excellent facilities 
even to neighborhoods remote from railroads, while 
the demands for increased accommodation incident 
to the growth of the State are met by the Post-ofQce 
Department in a liberal, progressive spirit. 

There are within the borders of the State 15,208 
miles of 

POSTAL, ROUTES, 

of which 10,426 miles are by stage and horse- 
back, 575 miles by steamboat, and 4,207 miles 
by railroad, the whole involving a cost for the year 
1878-9 of $768,904. There are 1,700 post-towns— but 
four States in the Union have a greater number. 
These are all offices of registration, where letters 
and parcels can be registered for transmission 
through the mails to all parts of this and foreign 
countries. 

MONET ORDERS — DEPARTMENT BUSINESS. 

In 200 of these post-offices money-orders may be 
purchased, payable at all similar offices in the Uni- 
ted States, and a portion of them issue orders drawn 
on Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Switzer- 
land, etc. 

There were issued by the various offices in this 
State in the year closing June 30, 1879, money-orders 
in number 261,173, and in amount $3,584,907, and pay- 



ment was made in number 373,711, and to the amount 
of $6,320,799. 

The total postal receipts from this State were, for 
1860, $253,824 ; 1870, $642,616 ; 1879, $1,124,555. 

GENERAL FACTS. 

St. Louis, from it« acknowledged position as the 
metropolis of the Mississippi Valley, has becomt, an 
important center of postal administration, and it» 
influence from that cause must necessarily greatly 
increase. This fact has a material bearing uijoa 
the service throughout the State, insuring direct 
supervision and immediate correction of irregula:> 
ities. 

Leading into St. Louis are twenty lines of railway 
all of which are post-roads. This city is located 
about 1,000 miles west from New York, and between 
these points are four daily railway post-office ser- 
vices each way, which not only carry the through 
mails fi'om the North Atlantic seaboard cities, but 
the way-mail also. In addition to the mail routes 
over the railroads centering here are the river routes 
on the Mississippi to the north, and as far south as 
New Orleans, and the routes served by coaches and 
messengers on horseback. 

There are in the State 562 telegraph stations 
whence messages can be sent all over the tele- 
graph world ; 2,423 miles of line and 6,000 miles of 
wire. 



Trade with tlie Southwest and Mexico. 



Missouri stands, geographically, at the north- 
eastern corner of the Southwestern States. This 
section embraces a part of Nebraska, nearly aU of 
Colorado, and the larger parts of Utah, Nevada, and 
£!alifornia, and all of Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona, 
the Indian Ten-itory, a small part of Mississippi, 
and the entire States of Arkansas, Louisiana and 
Texas. 

The general physical peculiarities of this section 
are : A temperate climate ; an immense extent of 
navigable rivers, with wide alluvial margins, the 
waters running in one general direction; great 
plains, with and without timber, and ranges of 
mountains traversing the central parts from north 
to south. 

Its natural products embrace almost every va- 
riety, including the fruits of the tropics, the rice, 
sugar and cotton of the South, the domestic animals, 
and cereals of the temperate zone, and minerals of 
nearly all the principal kinds employed in the arts 
and trade of mankind. 

" Nature has endowed this section with more varied 
and abundant resources for the necessities and 
luxuries of the human family than any other equal 
area. In relation to it all, Missouri occupies a com- 
manding position. Her citizens were the pioneers 



in the exploration and trade of the greater part of 
it. Her frontier towns have been the entrepots and 
seaports, so to speak, of the great western xjlains. 
Her fur traders, trappers and voyageura early 
traced its river courses, traversed its forests and 
plains, and penetrated its mountains. Her men of 
enteiin-ise first directed the barge, the keel-boat 
and the steamer upon its navigable streams ; first 
introduced the railroad upon its plains, and first 
brougiit to the notice of the world its fertility of 
soil, and its varied and extensive mineral resources. 
The fur trade and the 

TRADE WITH THE INDIANS 

for a long time led settlers into the State and into the 
regions beyond. Then came men iu pursuit of the 
precious metals, and then the tillers of the soil. 
The fur traders wei-e, in fact, the pioneers of com- 
merce and civilization, and St. Louis and other 
Missouri towns owe their foundations to them. 
Afterward the trade with Santa Fe assumed con- 
siderable ijroportions, and the wagoii trains, guarded 
by armed men, to resist the attacks of Indians and 
other marauders, were for many years traversing 
the great plains like vessels upon the ocean. 



40 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



It was not until 1817 that the steamboat appeared 
upon the rivers and became an active and potent 
factor in the development of commerce. It pene- 
trated every stream whicli contained water enougli 
to float it. For many years the settlements of the 
people were principally upon the banks or in the 
Talleys of these navigable streams. But the rail- 
ways coming-, opened the interior by extending, as 
it were, iron rivers into regions hitherto diflicult of 
access. The railways not only ran along the river 
valleys, but they crossed them and penetrated the 
hills ; and it is a peculiar and notable fact that, while 
the rivers of all this section east of the Rocky 
Mountains tend to the southeast, the railways gen- 
ei-ally tend to the southwest, crossing most of the 
streams at right angles. These two factors give to 
Missouri a remarkable advantage in respect to her 
commercial relations with all the great Southwest. 

IMPORTANCE OF THE TKADE. 

Although river rates for transportation are lower 
than railway rates, and although a single down- 
stream cargo, drawn in barges by a steamer on the 
Mississippi, sometimes exceeds the capacity of 
thirty -five ordinary railway trains to haul, yet the 
number of tons of freight brought to St. Louis last 
year by a single railroad (the Iron Mountain), was 
536,318 tons, while the total amount of freight 
shipped from St. Louis down the Mississippi was 
499,0i0 tons. 

In' 1836 Texas was a part of Mexico. Now she has 
a population one -fourth as large as that of Old 
Mexico, and her cotton crop alone is worth more 
than the whole foreign trade of Blexico, exclusive 
of the precious metals. The value of the cotton of 
Texas brought to St. Louis over only two lines of 
railway connecting us with that State, saying noth- 
ing of cattle and other products, was over fifteen 
million dollars last year, an amount which ex- 
ceeded all the exports of Mexico to the United 
States, England and France, exclusive of bullion. 
And, although only an approximate estimate can 
be made of the value of goods carried from Missouri 
into Texas, there is no doubt that they exceed the 
value of the products brought out. The best esti- 
mate is that the value of the goods embraced in this 
trade last year exceeded thirty-five million dollars. 

kap;d development. 

In 1848 and 1*53 the United States aciiuired from 
Mexico a considerable territory, whicli, added to 
that of Texas, made 907,451 square miles. This com- 
bined ai-ea has a population of ten or twelve millions, 
and, since the beginning of the present century, has 
annually produced more than half the silver mined 
during the same time in the world. But what is 
very remarkable, as showing the superior enterprise 
and power of Americans, the territory ceded by 
Mexico to the United States has yielded since 184S 
twice as much silver and gold as the territory of 
Mexico retained, and the product of silver and gold 
of Mexico from 1848 to 1876 was f702,0OO,0()O. This 
rapid settlement and development show what results 
might be expected if the same sort of people and 
energy were to take possession of tlie remaining 
territory of Mexico. Benton i)ointcd to, the Pacific 
Railway as the road to India, whose trade had en- 
riched nations. Missourians can point to their own 



railways, reaching out into the marvelous richness 
of the Southwest, as bringing to their doors some- 
thing greater and more valuable than the trade of 
India. 

The experience of the last thirty years proves tluit 
Missouri is a good Stale in which to establish coni- 
mei'cial agencies bearing upon the trade of the 
Southwest. The climate of Missouri is, on tlio 
whole, favorable to health aud to labor, and ihe 
products of its manufacturies and the goods gatliercd 
here by mercantile enterprise and capital, have 
found remunerative markets and exchangeable com- 
modities in thp contiguous territory. Hence, it has 
happened, in the natural course of exchange, that 
the cotton, sugar, cattle and tropical fruits of the 
Southwest have found their best market in St. Louis. 
Especially does Missouri feel the benefits of contig- 
uity and of easy intercourse with a State which, like 
Arkansas, has the climate of Italy, and gives her 
the best of cotton and the earliest of fruits in ex- 
change for a large portion of her surplus commodi- 
ties. Missouri may well extend her congratulations 
to her neighbor, Arkansas, upon her present grow- 
ing prosperity. The trade of Arkansas carried over 
the Iron Mountain Railroad alone is worth $25,000,000 
per annum. 

RELATIONS WITH LOUISIANA. 

The commercial relations of Missouri with the 
State of Louisiana are of an intimate and fi-iendly 
character. The iron rail connects St. Louis and 
this State with her capital city and her principal 
commercial town on the upper part of Red River, 
and St. Louis steamers reach her interior by 
that river and the Ouachita, and ply up and 
down her river coast, where the Mississippi is, in 
truth, an inland sea. An enterprising company of 
Missourians, aided by the Government, have, by 
confining the water to one of the principal passes, 
presented to the world this inland sea with an open 
mouth, long obstructed, free of toll and with sulficient 
depth of water to float the heaviest ships which 
seek the docks of New Orleans. It is diflicult to 
determine the extent of the commerce carried on 
between Missouri and Louisiana proper, as a large 
part of Missouri merchandise arriving at New Or- 
leans comes from or goes to distant States or 
foreign countries. Missourians supply the people 
of Louisiana largely with pork and beef and bread- 
stuffs, and bring back in retlirn her fruits and lier 
rice and sugar. Some of the excellent cotton of 
Louisiana is brought here by rail from Shreveport, 
and preparations are being made to penetrate ihe 
heart of the State from the north to make the com- 
mercial relations between the two States still more 
intimate and important. 

TRIBUTE FROM MEXICO. 
Hitherto the commercial relations of the United 
States with Mexico have been unimportant. The 
Monroe doctrine does not seem to apply to trade 
and commerce, since the foreign trade of that 
country has been mostly in the hands of the English 
and the Frencli. But of late a considerable change 
has taken place, partly in consequence of the facility 
with which its western coast may be approached 
from the ocean by California traders, and its gulf 
States by American coasters. Not a line of Americau 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



41 



railwiiy has yet touched Mexico. Railways, are, 
liovvever, now approaching the borders. Two or 
three liues are now entering the valley of the llio 
Grande, and another, starting from the town of 
Atchison, on the Missouri Kiver, has already reached 
AlljU(iuer(iue, Ijeyond Santa Fe, and will very soon 
pass ou to the southwest, crossing the Mexican 
State of Sonora and reaching the Gulf of California, 
at Guyanias. Missourians are already exploring 
Mexico and becoming interested in her mines and 
plantations. They di* not lind tliat repugnance to 
the introduction of American settlers which for- 
merly existed, and the people are becoming willing 
to eni^ourage the building of railways without being 
fully aware of their revohitionary ellect upon their 
civilization. IJusy scenes of development will fol- 
low the American locomotive into Mexico. When 



the ancient halls of Montezuma become an Ameri- 
can railwa}' station — if the unromantic and sacre- 
ligious thought may be pardoned— and the harbors 
of Acapulco, San Bias, Mazatlan and Guyanias are 
awakened by the whistle of the locomotive, then 
the valleys and the mountains and the plains wUl 
begin to resound witii the activities of the new 
civilization. And, as Cortez obtained more valuable 
tribute from Montezuma, probably, than Solomon 
received fvom the queen of Sheba, so, in far greater 
measure, will the developments, which will surely 
follow the American railway into Mexico, iill up the 
wealth, glory and grandeur of tlie great Southwest. 
To a large part of these riches and greatness 
Missouri holds the key. Here is the point of de- 
parture, the store-house of outfit and the home o£ 
return. 



Financial Condition of the State and Counties. 



Missouri is the great central State of the American 
Union. At one time it was a border State ; hut as 
the center of commerce and civilization in the 
United States has shifted from the Atlantic coast to 
the Valley of the Mississippi, it can now be said 
that Missouri is the central State, both geograph- 
ically and commercially. Its territory comprises 
more tlian 65,000 square miles, or about 41,000,000 
acres of land ; and it lias within its borders about 
800 miles of navigable sti-eams, besides having the 
Mississippi Kiver for its eastern and the Missouri 
for half of its western boundary. The Missouri 
liiver also bisects the State, thus furnishing, to- 
gether with its tributaries, the advantages of water 
communication to a very large portion of the people. 
There are 3,700 miles of completed railway in the 
State, and about 1,300 miles, in addition, in process 
of construction. 

The State is divided into 114 counties and one city, 
the latter being a separate municipality, combining 
all the governmental functions of both city and 
county. The counties vary in size, but contain on 
an average about 570 square miles. Missouri is, 
probably, the most diversified in soil, timber and 
natural resources of all kinds, of any State in the 
Union. There are no arid plains in tlie State, but 
in all localities there is an abundance of both water 
and timber for all practical purposes. 

COMPARISON OF RESOURCES AND LIA- 
BILITIES. 

The emigrant who prefers prairie can always 
find sulHcrent timber, at low rates, to fence his land 
until Ills hedges haye matured. Every county in 
the State has been occupied and settled by a popu- 
lation sufliciently numerous to construct its public 
buildings and other necessary improventents, and to 
put into active operation the machinery of govern- 
ment and civilization. These improvements, in 
most localities, have been long since paid for, so 
that the new-comer, while finding an abundance of 
unoccupied land, purchasable at a low price, es- 
capes the hardships of tlie ijioneer, and the heavy 



taxes and annoying inconveniences incident to the 
first settling of a new country. The financial con- 
dition of a State must be ascertained and determin- 
ed by a comparison of its resources with its liabili- 
ties, and in determining the former, it is allowable 
to estimate, not only such elements of wealth a» 
are the basis of its present prosperity, but also such 
other advantages as the inevitable progress of 
events will certaiidy and speedily confer upon its 
citizens. The resources of any country consist of 
its soil, timber, minerals, water and water-power, 
and taxable property, the energy, industry and 
intelligence of its inhabitants, the value of the pro- 
ductions of its farms, its mining and manufacturing 
industries, its completed railroads and those in pro- 
cess of construction, and the volume of its commer- 
cial transactions. The natural advantages of Mis- 
souri, so far as it is pertinent to mention them 
within the scope of this paper, are the fertility of its 
soil, the abundance and variety of its valuable tim- 
ber, the richness and inexhaustible quantity of its 
minerals, the length of the navigable water- courses 
adjacent to and within its borders, ftie extent of its 
water-power for manufacturing purposes, and the 
adaptability of its geographical situation to the 
commercial convenience of the whole country. 
There are more than 41,000,000 acres of land in the 
State, and of this quantity there is comparatively 
little not susceptible of cultivation, and that is 
mostly rich in mineral deposits. Of this immense 
area of land there is not more than one -fifth in actual 
cultivation, so that the possibilities of increase by 
immigration without subdividing any of the farms 
already improved are very great. 

The taxable wealth of the State for 1878, which is 
the last year for which a full report has been made, 
was $589,538,985, and it may now be safely asserted 
that the taxable property is more than $600,000,000, 
which increase has occurred during a period of 
extreme financial depression, and shows vei-y 
favorably for the industry and Energy of the 
people. 

The productions and exports for the last ten 



42 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



years conclusively demonstrate that Missouri is 
fast approaching the front rank amongst the grain 
and stock-growing States. 

STATE DEBT AND TAXATION. 

The State debt, according to the State Auditor's 
last report, is .fl6,758,000. This mostly grew out of 
the various issues of bonds given in aid of railroads, 
and bears interest at tlie rate of six per cent, per 
annum. To liquidate this debt the Constitution 
provides for the annual levy of taxes, now fixed by 
law at twenty cents on the $100 of the valuation. 
With the sum thus raised the interest of the debt is 
lirst to he paid, and of the remainder not less than 
$250,000 is to be set apart as a sinking fund for the 
purchase and retirement of the bonds themselves. 
Hence, in a few years, with the vast increase in 
the taxable wealth, which is sure to come, the 
whole of the debt will be extinguished. There 
is an additional State tax of twenty cents on the 
$100 for current expenditures, a large share of which 
is devoted to the support of the common schools. 
This tax is ample for the purposes for which it is 
intended, and there is a constitutional provision 
that it shall be reduced to fifteen cents on the $100 
as soon as the taxable property of the State shall 
aggregate a total valuation of $900,000,000. The 
levies for State indebtedness and expenditures, it 
will be noticed, are determinedly fixed by the 
organic law, and in tlie nature of things niitst grad- 
ually decrease until a mere nominal levy of fifteen 
cents on the $100 will be all that the State can re- 
quire from the citizen. The State, and all its muni- 
cipal subdivisions, whether counties, cities or towns, 
are forbidden by the Constitution to loan their 
credit to any corporation, so that there is no method 
l)y which the i^ublic indebtedness can be increased 
in the nsual way. Owing to the great zeal of the 
people to forward public improvements of all kinds, 
a municipal indebtedness, aggregating, according 
to the Auditor's last report, $35,737,.566.49, has been 
contracted. Of this amount the debt of the city of 
St. Louis is shown to constitute $22,712,000, leaving 
for the agricultural portion of the State and the 
other cities, towns, townships and school districts 
only a little over $13,000,000. A large amount of this 
local indebtedness has been, and much more is, in 
the course of being compromised by the various 
municipalities at from fifteen to eighty cents on the 
dollar. The present organic law prevents any 
municipality from contracting liabilities in any one 
fiscal year beyond the amount of the levy made for 
that year, and in no county can the rate of taxation 
for local purposes, aside from the school tax, exceed 
fifty cents on tlie $100 of valuation, unless two- 
thirds of the voters shall assent to the levy of a 
larger sum. Neither can the scliool tax in country 
districts exceed forty cents on the $100 without the 
consent of the tax-payers, to be obtained by a vote 
of the majority of the residents. 

These provisions render it absolutely certain that 
the emigrant who may come to Missouri can 
escape the burdensome local taxation which exists 
in some of the States. 

The average tax levy for all purposes in Missouri 
is about $1.30 on the $100; adding to this 70 cents on 
the $100 for the payment of bonded indebtedness, 
Where it exists, there is an average of $2 on the 



$100, as the rate, and a certainty of its steady de- 
crease. This is given as an average, and, whUe in a 
few counties the tax rate is higher, in the majority 
it is much lower. To ascertain whether or not this 
is a low rate of taxation it may be compared with 
the rates in some of the neighboring States, and 
comparative examination of their financial condition 
also may be briefly made : By the report of the State 
Auditor of Kansas for the year ending June 30, 1878, 
the tax levy for State purposes is shown to he 55 
cents on the $100, and the average levy for local 
debts and expenses $3.82 on the $100, making a total 
average tax of $4.37 on the $100. This is certainly 
very onerous and embarrassing when compared 
with the rate of taxation for this State. The tax- 
able property of Kansas in 1878 aggi-egated the sum 
of $138,698,810.98, and the local indebtedness was 
reported by tlie State Auditor at $13,473,197..51, 
which enormous amount, as proportioned to the 
total taxable wealth of the State, is the manifest 
cause of such burdensome local taxation. In Ne- 
braska the tax levy for State purposes alone is 62i 
cents on the $100, exclusive of taxes to pay local 
debts and expenses. 

COMPARATIVE TAXATION STATISTICS : 

In Iowa, the average rate of taxation for the year 
1878 was $2.67 cents on the $100. In Illinois the tax 
levy for the year 1877, the last given in the auditor's 
report, was $3.24 on the $100, and the local indebted- 
ness of that State was then the sum of $51,811,691. 

Thus, it is clear that Missouri has a lower rate of 
taxation than any of the neighboring States above 
mentioned, and in this respect particularly, to say 
nothing of her other countless advantages, offers 
superior inducements to the home-seeking emi- 
grant. It must he remembered, too, as has been 
heretofore stated, that the rate of taxation in Mis- 
souri must continually decrease every year until 
only a suflJcient amount of taxes to liquidate current 
exi^enses will be collected. Most of the local im-^. 
provements in this State are comjileted and paid 
for, so that the new settler finds the school-house 
huilt and the school in successful operation, the 
county roads laid out and constructed, the bridges 
built and the churches erected in every county. 

There are twenty counties that have no indebted- 
ness whatever, and forty more the debt of which is 
merely nominal; so that it is easy for those who 
choose, to locate themselves in counties where the 
burden of taxation will be lighter than in any other 
portion of the Ignited States. 

HOW THE STATE WILL LIQUIDATE. 

Then, what has Missoui-i to rely upon to liquidate 
a State indebtedness of sixteen million dollars, and 
a local indebtedness of thirty-five million dollars, 
and to develop, build up and sustain her in her 
struggle to reac/h and maintain the first place among 
the States of the Americ-an Union in educational 
facilities, in the agi-icultural, manufacturing and 
mining industries of the country, to which position 
many of her most enterprising and far-seeing 
citizens claim slie is justly entitled? The propo- 
sition is Misily answered : 

1. A mild and salubrious climate, without the 
extreme cold of high northern latitudes, and with- 
out the long continued heat to which States further 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



43 



south are subject, and entirely free from those 
malignant and contagious diseases by which the 
citizens of some portions of the country have been 
scourged in past years. 

2. An active, industrious, energetic, and thi-ifty 
population, blessed with mental and physical health, 
now numbering at least two and a half millions of 
free citizens, and increasing more rapidly in popu- 
lation and wealth than at any previous period of the 
history of the State. 

3. More than forty-one million acres of land, con- 
sisting of agricultural, grazing and mineral lands, 
divided into broad, smooth, alluvial bottoms, covered 
with timber, and high, undulating prairie, with a rich 
and diversified soil, adapted to produce in unlimited 
quantities all the grains, grasses, fruits and vegeta- 
bles found in this latitude. 

4. No section of the country is better suited to 
the rearing of live sto'ck; and the horses, mules, 
cattle, sheep and hogs, now in the State, number 
more than seven millions, and are annually increas- 
ing rapidly. 

5. The very best educational advantages, consist- 
ing of a State University, munificently endowed ; 



three normal schools for the instruction of white, 
and one for the instruction of colored teachers : a 
school of mines; a magnificent system of graded 
common schools in active operation, there being 
nearly 9,000 school districts in the State, and an equal 
number of school-houses, valued at about $9,000,000. 

6. Manufacturing industries of various kinds, the 
annual products amounting to nearly $400,000,000. 

7. Thirty-seven hundred miles of completed rail- 
road, now in active and successful operation, which, 
together with that in process of construction, will 
give the people of the state at least 5,000 miles of 
railroad l)y the first day of January, 1SS2. 

SUMMARY. 

Considering the resources and advantages just 
enumerated, there can be little doubt that, in a com- 
paratively short time, Missouri will be entirely free 
fi-om all kinds of indebtedness, both State and local, 
and that the future greatness of the State is as well 
assured as its present prosperity. There is ample 
room and a cordial welcome for all who may desire 
to aid in the development of its extraordinary nat- 
ural i-esources. 



Homestead, Exemption, Dower and Taxation Laws; 



The laws of Missouri reserve from execution, in 
the hands of every head of a family living in the 
country, a homestead, consisting of one hundred 
and sixty (160) acres of laud, not exceeding $1,500 in 
value ; to every head of a family, in cities of over 
40,000 inhabitants, a homestead, consisting of not 
more than eighteen square rods of ground, and of 
a valuation not exceeding $3,000; and, in cities 
and towns of less than 40,000 inhabitants, a home- 
stead, consisting of not more than thirty square 
rods of ground, and of the value of not more than 
$1,500. Thus, it is seen that a farmer's homestead, 
in Missouri, consists of one hundred and sixty 
acres of land, and the improvements thereon, not 
exceeding, in value, $1,500; the homestead of the 
residents of the smaller towns is of the same 
value ; while that allowed to the inhabitants of St. 
Louis, St. Joseph and Kansas City, where land is 
more valuable, and the cost of living • greater, is 
fixed at $;5,000. 

Tlie law endeavors to strike a just balance between 
tlie policy, which prevails in some of the States, 
allowing uo homestead reservation to the debtor, 
and the extravagant policy which has just been con- 
sidered. In Missouri, the homestead is in the nature 
of a lien or charge, in favor of tlie wife and children, 
upon certain property of the husband, defined in 
extent, and limited in value. A declaration of what 
this property is, may be recorded in the office of the 
Kecorder of Deeds, and notice is thus imparted to 
all persons having dealings with the owner, that 
this particular property is not suljject to execution, 
and that they ought not to give credit on the faith 
of it. The State, under this head, provides that: 
"Any married woman may file her claim to the ti-act 



or lot of land occupied or claimed by her and her 
husband, or by her, if abandoned by her husband, 
as a homestead. Said claim shall set forth the tract 
or lot claimed, that she is the wife of the person in 
whose name the said tract or lot appears of record, 
and said claim shall be acknowledged by her before 
some officer authorized to take proof or acknowl- 
edgment of instruments of writing afl;ecting real 
estate, and be filed in the Recorder's oflice, and it 
shall be the duty of the Recorder to receive and 
record the same. After the filing of such claims, 
duly acknowledged, the husband shall be debarred 
from, and incapable of, selling, mortgaging and 
alienating the homestead in any manner whatever, 
and such sale, mortgage or alienation is hereby 
declared null and void; and tlie filing of any such 
claims, as aforesaid, with the Recorder, shall impart 
notice to all persons of the contents thereof, and all 
subsequent purchasers, and mortgagors, shall be 
deemed, in law and equity, to purchase with notice ; 
provided, however, that nothing herein contained 
shall be so construed as to prevent the husband and 
wife from jointly conveying, mortgaging, alienating, 
and, in any other manner, disposing of such home- 
stead, or any part thereof." 

Such a law, while securing the benefits of a home- 
stead to the debtor, works no injustice to the credi- 
tor. He sees that the debtor has certain property 
recorded as his homestead. He never gives credit 
on the faith that this property will be subject to his 
execution; but he looks simply to the other proper- 
ty of the debtor, or to the state of his business and 
his character for honesty. 

It may be added that the Supreme Court of this 
State has construed the homestead laws liberally, 



44 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



with the view of carrying out the benevolent pur- 
poses of the Legislature. If the debtor is ignorant 
«r timid, when the .•iheriff comes with an execution 
to levy, and fails to claim his i-ight of homestead, 
liis family are not, therefore, to be turned out of 
doors. The Sheriff must sumnion appi'aisers and 
set the homestead apart, whether the debtor claims 
it or not; and if he does not do this his sale will pass 
no title to the purchaser so far as the debtor's 
homestead is concerned. If the debtor makes a 
conveyance of ijroperty embracing his family home- 
stead, for the purpose of hindering or defrauding his 
creditors, this does not work a forfeiture of his 
homestead right ; his wrongful act is not thus to be 
appealed to in prejudice of his wife and children. 
If the cruelty of the husband drives the wife from 
the homestead, this does not put an end to her in- 
terest in the homestead. She may return and claim 
it after his death, and his administrator niust set it 
apart for her. 

KXEMPTIONS OF PERSONAL PROPERTY. 

Pursuing the same wise and benevolent policy 
the statutes provide that the following personal 
property shall be exempt from attachment and exe- 
cution when owned by the head of a family. " 1. 
Ten head of choice hogs, ten head of choice sheep, 
and the product thereof in wool, yarn or cloth ; two 
cows and calves, two plows, one axe, one hoe, and 
one set of plow gears, and all the necessary farm 
Implements for the use of one man. 2. Two work 
animals, of the value of one hundred and fifty dol- 
lars. .3. The spinning-wheel and cards, one loom 
and apparatus, necessary for manufacturing cloth 
in a private famUy. 4. All the spun yarn, thread 
and cloth manufactured for family use. .I. Any 
quantity of hemp, flax and wool, not exceeding 
twenty-five pounds each. 6. All wearing apparel 
of the family, four beds, Avitli usual bedding, and 
such other household and kitchen furniture, not 
exceeding the value of one liundred dollars, as may 
be necessary for the family, agreeably to an inven- 
tory thereof, to be returned, on oath, with the exe- 
cution, by the officer whose duty it may be to levy 
the same. 7. The necessary tools and implements 
of trade of any mechanic, while carrying on his 
trade. 8. Any and all arms and military equip- 
ments required by law to be kept. 9. All such 
provisions as may be on hand for family use, not 
exceeding one hundred dollars in vahie. 10. The 
bibles and other books used in a family, lettered 
gravestones, and one pew in a house of worship. 
11. All la-v^-yers, physicians, ministers of the gospel 
and teachers, in the actual prosecution of their 
calling, shall have the privilege of selecting such 
books as shall be necessary to their profession, in 
the place of other property hei'ein allowed, at their 
option; and doctors of medicine, in lieu of other 
property exempt from execution, may be allowed 
to select their medicines." 

In lieu of this i)i"operty each head of a family 
may, at his election, select and hold exempt from 
execution any other property, real, personal or 
mixed, or debts or wages not exceeding in value 
the amount of three hundred doJlai-s. The Legis- 
lature of the State has wisely considered that 
the debtor ought not to be permitted to plead 
poverty as against the claims of creditors 
equally necessitous. It is accordingly pirovided 



that the foregoing exemption Cannot be claimed 
when the debt is for wages due to a house 
servant or common laborer to the extent of $90, 
and when the action to recover the same is 
brought within six months after the last services 
were rendered. Nor can the purchaser of goods 
make this law an instrument of fraud by claiming 
goods which he has purclKi-^ed on credit against an 
execution for the purchase money. 

RIGHTS OP MARRIED WOMEN. 

State legislation is extremely careful of the rights 
of married women. If a wife is unjustly abandoned 
by her husband, the Circuit Court will sequester his 
property for the purpose of maintaining her and the 
children of the marriage. If he abandons her, or 
from worthlessness or drunkenness fails to support 
her, the court will not only allow her to sell her own 
real estate without his joining in the deed, but will 
require any person holding money or property to 
which he may be entitled in her right, to pay the 
money over to her. 1 — Under such circumstances 
she is entitled to the pi'oceeds of her own earnings 
and those of her minor children. 2 — If her real es 
tate is damaged for railroads, or other public works 
the damages accrue exclusively to her. If her bus 
band gets into the penitentiary, she becomes to all 
intents and ])urposes a femme sole. 4 — And if lie, 
by ill usage, compels her to live sejiarate and apart 
from him, she may claim the sole and exclusive en- 
joyment of her propertv as if she were unmarried. 
Rents, issues and profits of her real estate cannot 
be taken in execution for his debts, except when 
contracted for family necessaries. Moreover, by a 
very broad statute lately enacted, a wife may hold 
all her jjersonal property free from her husband's 
control and exempt from liability for his debts. If 
he becomes incompetent to lead in the marital part- 
nership, she may take the reins in her hands, engage 
in trade, buy and sell goods, accumulate property, 
and no act of his will create a charge upon it. 
Finally, at his death, the family homestead descends 
to her and the children, if any there be, to be held 
by her for life ; if there be any children, in common 
with them; if not, by herself alone. She also takes 
dower in one-third of all the real estate of which 
her husband may have been seized at any time 
during marriage, in which she has not conveyed 
her right of dower, diminished, however, by the 
homestead which is set apart to her? She takes 
also a child's share of his personal estate ; and, in 
addition to all this, she is allowed to retain as her 
absolute property a large amount of personality. 

TAXATION. 
The constitution places it beyond the powerof reck- 
less or dishonest public agents to burden the people 
with excessive taxation. Taxes for State purposes, 
exclusive of the taxes necessary to pay the bonded 
debt of the State, cannot exceed twenty cents on 
the hundred dollars valuation; and whenever tha 
taxable property of the State shall amount to .?90D,- 
000,000 the rate sliall not exceed fifteen cents. The 
rate of taxation for county, city, town and school 
purposes is likewise strictly limited. Counties, 
cities, towns, townships and school districts cannot 
become indebted beyond the revenue provided for 
each year, without a two-thirds vote of all voters 
therein, nor, in any event, to an amount exceeding 
five per cent, ou the value of the taxable property. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



45 



Universities, Colleges and Academies of Missouri. 



The educational institutions of Missouri are 
divided into Uvo groul^s, tlie private scliools and 
the State schools. The idea of universal educa- 
tion is in this State passing into realization along 
these two lines of movement. For the sake of dis- 
orimination, under private schools are included all 
those educational institutions and enterprises not 
under the direct control and iiatronage of the 
State. 

Nearly all the leading varieties of religious senti- 
ment in Christendom are activelj- engaged in the 
work of education in Missouri. In the history of 
the country, as well as in the history of civilization, 

THE CHURCH AND THE SCHOOL 

have always gone together. They stand together 
in Missouri, and greatly diversify and strengthen 
the attractions for drawing hither the population 
of all the civilized countries of the world. 

Contrary to current impressions, and somewhat 
consequent on tlie state of fact justindicated, there 
is throughout Missouri a pervasive intelligence, 
tolerance of differences of opinion and of faith and 
liberality of spirit. The population of the State, so 
quiet, well-to-do, and unpretentious, is, in large 
part, made up of the growth from the choice seed 
grain of the older and more eastern States, north 
and south. To a large extent families of character 
and fortune have come hither in former days, that 
several homes might he provided for the j'oung out 
•of the proceeds of the old homestead in the older 
settlements. But the days of pioneer life have gone 
by, and the educational enterprises liberally pro- 
jected by a former genei-ation are actively engaging 
the best energies and the best thought of the 
present. 

A good feeling prevails amongst these different 
8chools. Each attends to its own work in its own 
way in caring for the patronage of its own people 
and the community at lai'ge, as a good neighbor of 
every other worker. A most liberal and impartial 
legislative policy is pursued by dealing with all 
alike before the law, whether iu the maintenance of 
vested rights or in the matter of taxation. By con- 
stitutional provision all property actually used for 
school and religious purposes may be exempted 
from taxes, and the same constitution most ex- 
plicitly interdicts all discrimination, and also all 
favor or partiality. 

Throughout her histoi-y Missouri has exemplifled 
the argus-eyed care with which the genius of 
American institutions has ever guarded religious 



freedom, and also the great intimacy of its asso- 
ciation from the beginning with the work of educa- 
tion in all its phases. In the Missouri TeiTitbrial 
Act of 1812 it is enunciated, in clear and unmistak- 
able language, as a public policy, that schools and 
the means of education shall be encouraged and 
provided for. 

The second leading part of the educational work 
is in the hands of the State. In the original organ- 
ization and admission of Missouri, provision was 
exijlicitly made in the fundamental law for both 

THE LOWER AND THE HIGHER EDUCATION. 

The entire sixth article of the first constitu- 
tion is devoted to providing for common schools, 
of which there are now about ten thousand in 
the State, " and a university for the promotion 
of literature, and the arts and sciences." It 
should be said, therefore, to the honor of the 
founders of the commonwealth of Missouri, that 
provision for the higher education as well as for 
the lower, was no after-thought. It is not some- 
thing that has been thrust upon the State by any 
recent or reconstruction measures; but the idea of 
the distinct schools and of the university was in- 
corporated into the very life of the State at its birth, 
and now vitalizes its best hopes of the future. The 
university contemplated in the formation of the 
State, has been in active operation for about forty 
years, and hai^ attained a position with its faculty 
of thirty professors, six hundred students and three 
quarters of a million of property, which, at the 
present, places it in favorable comparison with the 
leading institutions of the country. When its v.'ork 
and the work of the private schools, academies and 
colleges are taken into consideration, the opinion 
may be intelligently and fairly uttered that the 
people of Missouri have no longer any occasion to 
send their sons and their daughters out of the State, 
for the purjJoses of higher education. Their chil- 
dren can obtain within the State as good an educa- 
tion as they can find without and will have the 
additional advantage of growing up with those with 
whom they will be associated in after life, and of 
strengthening the institutions whose interests they 
themselves may be expected to share in adminis- 
tering, not to speak of the economy and financial 
advantages consequent upon patronizing home 
institutions. 

As to the colored people, the State has made a 
most liberal separate provision for their common 
schools, and in Lincoln Institute, for their normal 
and higher education. 



Free Schools of the State (Outside of St. Louis). 



It has been asserted by some and assumed bv 
■others, who do not know the facts, that a public 
spirit of opposition to free schools dominates legis- 
lation in Missouri. On the other hand, Missourians 
claim that no policy of government is more firmly 
rooted in the affections of the people or more 



securely established than the purpose to extend 
the advantages of a liberal education to all classes. 
It is difficult to conceive of a greater misrepresen- 
tation than that which exhibits this State as either 
indifferent to the cause of public education or com- 
paratively backward in its development. 



46 



Hand-Book or' Missouri. 



No State in the American Union has evei* mani- 
fested more zeal in the cause of populai- education 
than Missouri ; nor is her present attitude the man- 
ifestation of a new impulse. When she began her 
existence as a State she began an earnest effort in 
behalf of education, and there has been no abate- 
ment of that effort, unless the unavoidable inter- 
ruption of the course of events during the civil 
war be so regarded ; and he who charges that the 
State is opposed to free schools, or ever has been, 
is challenged to name that State which fills his 
ideal, educationally, and invited to a comparison of 
the temper of the two States on the subject. 

No lengthy comparisons will be instituted, but an 
exhibit will be made of the work done in Missouri. 

Massachusetts is taken almost universally as the 
standard of measurement for other States. The 
State reports of 

MASSACHUSETTS AND MISSOURI, 

for 1879, show that in the former there was applied to 
the education of every child of school age the sum 
of $13.71— in the latter, $4.37. 

But it must be remembered that school age in 
Massachusetts is between five and fifteen years ; in 
Missouri between six and twenty, a difference of 
four years in school. 

The difference is not, therefore, so great as at 
first appeared, and the amount oq^ended, is, of 
itself, no criterion of popular interest in education. 
City schools necessarily cost vastly more than 
country schools, and in a State with a denser popu- 
lation and a large preponderance of town or city 
schools the per capita is largely increased, and this 
amount will be affected by the cost of living and 
other causes. 

Massachusetts has one school for e/ery one and 
frvventy-two hundredths square miles of area, while 
Missouri has one for every six and twenty-live hun- 
dredths. But this fact has no value, by itself, in de- 
termining the relative zeal of the two people in the 
same cause. Density of population determines the 
necessity for a given number of schools. Massa- 
chusetts, with little more than one-ninth of the area 
of Missouri, had, in 1870, nearly six sevenths as much 
population. 

But, in support of the proposition that no State 
has given better evidence of devotion to the cause 
of public education than Missouri, one comparison 
with the admitedly model State of Massacluisetts, is 
sufficient. 

The report of the Secretary of the Massachusetts 
Board of Education, for 1879, states the "percen- 
tage of valuation appropriated for public schools " 
as two .and seventy-two one hundredth mills. In 
Missouri it was over five mills. That is, every tax- 
paying Missourian paid nearly twice as much for 
the maintenance of public schools on the same 
amount (or value) of property as the tax-payer of 
Massachusetts. 

Taking the present number of schools in Massa- 
chusetts, and the numljcr in Missouri in 1870, and 
comparing them with the pojiulation of the two 
States in 1870— thus giving the former State the ad- 
vantage of ten years of growth— it is demonstrated 
that Massachusetts' present number of schools is 
equal to one for every 26-3 of population, while Mis- 
souri's ten years ago, was one for every 245. The 
yearly average increase in the number of schools 



in Massachusetts (on the basis of increase between 
76 and 79) was five and one -third. In Missouri the 
average for teji years was 300. 

Neither Massachusetts, nor any other State, can 
point to any schools which surpass the schools of 
St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Joseph, and other Mis- 
souri cities, in systematic management, thorough 
drill and effective work. Again, no State in the 
Union has laid broader, deeper, and more securely, 
the foundation of a liberal, universal and efficient 
system of public schools than Missouri. 

To show how thoroughly Missouri is committed 
to the cause of free schools, it is only necessary to 
learn what she has done toward their maintenance. 

The third proposition of the Act of Congress of 
March 6th, 1820, permitting Missouri Territory to 
form a State government, declared that five per 
cent, of the net proceeds ol the sales of public 
lands within the territory should be reserved, after 
January, 1821, for making roads and canals— three- 
fifths to be used in the State, and two -fifths in con- 
structing a road or roads to the State. 

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS. 

. The convention which assembled in July, 1820, iu 
pursuance of this Act of Congress, reciuested such 
a modification of this proposition as would permit 
the whole of the five per cent, to be used in the 
State for the purposes named " and the promotion 
of education within the State." Thus, the people of 
Missouri manifested a solicitude for the education 
of their children in the outset of the State Govern- 
ment. And when it is remembered that Congress 
had offered, and they had accepted, the magnificent 
gifts of the sixteenth section of every township of 
land for schools of those townships, and thirty-six 
sections of land for the use of a seminary of learn- 
ing (the State University), the request for further 
aid in this direction shows that they regarded the 
question of education as one of transcendant im- 
portance. 

The article on education in the Constitution ol 
1820 (Art. VI.), contained only two sections. The 
first section provided that " schools and the means 
of education shall forever be encouraged in this 
State," and directed the Legislature to preserve the 
school lands from waste, and to apply the proceeds 
of any sales which should be made " in strict con- 
formity to the object of the grant." It also directed 
that one or more schools should be established in 
every township as soon as practicable (that is, .as 
soon as there were sufficient funds on hand), and 
necessiiry. The second section provided for the 
care of the seminary or university lands. 

The article on education in the Constitution, 
adopted in ISO.") (Art. IX.), has nine sections. The 
first reads, "A general diffusion of knowledge and 
intelligence being essential to tlie preservation of 
the rights and liberties of the people, the General 
Assembly shall establish and maintain free schools 
for the gratuitous instruction of all persons in this 
State between the ages of five and twenty-one 
years." 

Section 2 provides that separate schools for chil- 
dren of African descent may be established. 

Section 3 .jreates a Board of Education, to consist 
of the State Superintendent, Secretary of State antJ 
Attorney -General. 



Hand-Book of Missouki. 



47 



Section 4 provides for maiutenance of the Uni- 
versity, with departments in teaching in agriculture 
and in natural science. 

Section 5 describes ana perpetuates the public 
fichool fund, and ilirects the application of its in- 
come. 

Section 6 requires tlie State fund to be invested 
•only in United States bonds (amended in 1870 so as 
to permit investment in Missouri State bonds), and 
the coiintj' funds to be loaned. 

Section 7 requires the maintenance of schools for 
at least three months in the year as the condition 
of receiving any part of the income of the public 
school fund, and permitted the Legislature to pro- 
vide for compulsory education. 
Section 8 provided for local taxation for schools. 
Section 9 provides lor the reduction of lands, 
money or other property held for school purposes 
into the public school fund. 

The article on education in the Constitution 
adopted in 1875 (Art. XI.) contains eleven sections. 
The first is an exact repi'oduction of the same sec- 
tion of the Constitution of 1S6.5, except a change of 
school age from between five and twenty-one, to 
between six and twenty. 

Section 4 adds the Governor to the State Board of 
Education. 

Section 7 requires the annual appropriation of 25 
per cent, of the State's revenues, exclusive of the 
interest and sinking funds for the maintenance of 
schools. [This is tlie first appearance in the organic 
law of a provision for tlie ajjplication of tlie ordi- 
nary revenue to education.] 

Section 11 forbids the appropriation of any public 
money in aid of " any religious creed, church or sec- 
tarian purpose," or to sustain any school controlled 
by any religious creed, church or sectarian denomi- 
nation. 

These, with a few minor and immaterial changes, 
and with better provisions for the State University, 
are the only additions to the same article of the 
Constitution of 18(55. 

But section 43, of article IV, of the present Consti- 
tution fixes the order in which the General Assembly 
shall make appropriations of money, and prohibits 
any appropriation until that wliicli has precedence 
in this order has been made. Now the third item in 
the list is "for free public school puiiioses." Tlie 
seventh, and last, is "for the pay of the Genei-al 
Assembly," etc. 

In so far, therefore, as the will of the people is 
expressed in tlie organic law, the sentiment of 
Missouri has always been clearly and forcibly stated 
in behalf of public schools. 

There are three other means of testing public sen- 
timent: The attitude of representative citizens, 
the provisions of the Statutes and the character of 
the schools. Only a few references can here be 
made— a sufficient number to leave no doubt in any 
mind that, universal education has always been a 
cardinal jirinciple with our statesmen and political 
leaders. 

GOVERNORS" MESSAGES. 

In 1826, Governor Miller's message to the Legisla- 
ture recommended that " education and the diffu- 
sion of useful knowledge * * * * should receive the 
greatest attention." * * * * " Education is the 
corner-stone of free and republican governments. 



Monarchies are supported and defended by stand- 
ing armies, while republics repose upon the intelli- 
gence and virtue of the people. Hence, it is the 
peculiar duty of the latter to promote and diifuse 
the blessings of education throughout the whole 
body of its citizens. 

Ill the message of Governor Dunklin, in 1834, there 
is an earnest plea for the establishment of a uni- 
versity and the encouragement of free schools. He 
argues: "In no country is it so pre-eminently im- 
portant as it is in this to promote a general diffusion 
of knowledge." 

InlS3(i, Governor Boggs declared: "Education is 
a subject of abiding interest to the people, and de- 
mands the fostering care of the Legislature." 

In his inaugural address, in 1844, Governor Ed- 
wards said: "But, of all subjects, that of education 
is the most important." * * * "It should be in ad- 
vance of all other subjects of legislation." 

In 1849, Governor King said of tlie common school 
system: "It is emphatically the cause of the 
people; " and " advises its elevation to the fore- 
most place in the care and councils of the repre- 
sentatives of the people." 

In 1858, Governor Stewart declared: " The chief 
corner-stone and crowning glory of our educational 
facilities is the State." 

Such expressions as these may be found in the 
messages and public addresses of the other Gov- 
ernors of Missouri. They cover, as will be seen, the 
period of the State's history ante -dating the war; 
and, taken in connection with constitutional pro- 
visions, demonstrate the zeal of our people in 
behalf of popular education. 

The attitude of Missouri Governors since 18G0 has 
been earnest a,nd consistent in advocacy and aid 
of public schools. The first Governor, after a 
change of the political administration, since the 
war, said : " I do not believe that any party ought to 
be in control of the destinies of Missouri which is 
opposed to public schools." (Inaugural of Governor 
Woodson.) And Missouri's present Governor, in all 
of his long public life, has manifested his zeal for 
the cause by numerous public speeches and State 
papers, and by an active personal participation in 
the work of establishing and building up our 
schools. 

STATUTORY PROVISIONS. 

Up to the year 1839,. legislation was confined to 
local acts, the incorporation of school-boards, sem- 
inaries and academies, and to the preservation and 
disposition of school funds and lands. But this 
legislation is stamped with the evident determina- 
tion of the law-making body to foster and encourage 
the education of the people. 

In 18;i9, a general system for the State, with a 
State Superintendent, was established. It was sub- 
jected to various modifications and changes, as the 
circumstances of increasing population and ex- 
perience seemed to demand; but it never ceased to 
exist as a general and uniform system, controled by 
the State. 

I-n 1853, there was a general revision of tlie school 
law. A majority of the best and most important 
provisions of the present law were then adopted. 
Twenty -five per cent, of the State's ordinary 
revenues was set apart for schools, annually. 



48 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



PRESENT CHAKACTEK AND SYSTEM. 

In reference to the present law, and system, two 
facts maybe stated: The "Department of Super- 
intendence" of the National Educational Associa- 
tion unanimously adopted tlie report of a committee 
appointed to outline " tlie best system of schools 
for a State." A comparison of tlie INIissouri system, 
with the suggestions of this report, and its accom- 
panying analysis of all the State systems, shows 
that ours possesses as many, if not more, of the 
features appi-oved and recommended in that report 
as the system of any other State. 

There are district schools (elementary and un- 
graded) ; city schools (graded, with high school 
courses) ; normal scliools, and a State university, 
sustained by the State, and fi-ee pul)lic schools for 
white and colored persons, between tlie aj'^s of six 
and twenty years, are required by law lor every 
district* in the State. 



The State sustains four normal schools — one lor 
colored persons — and a normal department in the 
State University. 

The State funds for education (permanent) amount 
to $7,542,22.5, and arc constantly increasing. The 
increase last year was ?ltl,721. 

The amount exiiended in 1879 for public schools 
was $:5,202,273, derived from interest on the perma- 
nent funds, one-fourth of the State's ordinary 
revenue and local taxation. In additton to this, the 
Legisl.ature made special appropriations for tlie 
university, the normals, the schools for tlie deaf 
and dumb and the blind, amounting to .f 140,140. 

This, in brief outline, is a partial view of educa- 
tion in Missouri, its origin, continuous progress, 
and present excellent condition. In this State the 
emigrant is assured as substantial guarantees for 
the education of his children as can be offered any- 
where. 



The Coramon Scliools of St. Louis. 



Through its system of common schools St. Louis 
furnishes a free education to all its inhabitants be- 
tween the ages of five and twenty-one years. This 
education for children and youth is not all. There is 
also provided free education, in evening schools, for 
all persons over twelve years of age, not able to at- 
tend the day schools, by reason of the fact that they 
are engaged in some useful employment. 

The branches taught are : 

1. Kindergarten; instruction for children live or 
six years of age, in the use of the hand and eye, in 
counting, adding, subtracting, and otlier operations 
of arithmetic, building with geometrical blocks, 
sewing, weaving, plaiting, embroidery, modeling in 
clay, and such training of the hand and eye as is 
best given to the child at an early age, in order to 
render him skillful at any manual employment he 
may ever pui-sue. 

2. After the kindergarten, the child attends the 
primary school and learns reading and writing while 
he continues his study of arithmetic, and learns to 
write numbers. He also commences geography and 
learns one lesson a week in natural science, and one 
lesson a week in history. 

The St. Louis primary schools have used, since 
1867, the famous phonetic system of learning to read, 
invented by Dr. Leigh, which save half the time re- 
quired under the old system to learn to read and 
spell the p:nglish language. 

After the child has become tlioroughly acquainted 
with arithmetic, grammar, history of the United 
States and industrial drawing, he has completed his 
studies in the so-called" district schools," and en- 
ters the high school, at the age of thirteen or 
fourteen years. In the high school the course of 
study is such as to lit a boy or giil for college. The 
course lasts for four years, and includes, in mathe- 
matics, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, astron- 
omy; in natural science, geology, meteorology. 



botany, physiology, natural philosophy, and chemis- 
try ; English composition and letter-writing, English 
literature, rhetoric; languages, Latin and Greek, 
French, and (ierman; book-keeping, history of art 
history of the world. Of course, it is understood 
that within the four years of the high school course 
only the elements of these studies are completed. 

The average age of graduates of the high school 
is eighteen and one-half years. It is expected that 
the majority of pupils who complete the high school 
course have obtained a knowledge of the use of 
books sufficient to enable them to pursue any branch 
of study, intelligently, by means of the library. 

4. In order that the means of education may be 
complete for all classes of citizens, 

A PUBLIC LIBRARY 

is provided, in wliich there are now nearly fifty 
thousand volumes. To it is attached a line reading 
room, where newspapers, magazines, and the books 
of the library may be read, free of charge. A small 
fee of throe dollars ]ier year is charged if the books 
of the library are taken liome. Thus, the St. Louis 
public schools teach not only the how to read, but 
they furnish the what to read ; and the graduate of 
the common school may continue his education, by 
means of books, throughout life. 

The Mercantile Library, with a still larger collec- 
tion of books, is accessible to the public at nearly as 
cheap rates as the Public; School Library. 

5. St. Louis supports i(s own normal school, for 
the preparation and training of its teachers, the 
greater number of whom are graduates of this 
normal school. The course of study is two and one- 
half years, ayd instruclion is given in tlie method 
of teaching the branches of study taught in the 
common schools, as well as Latin and algebra, 
geometry and natural science, and in theory and 
history of education. Practice is afforded (ho pupiU 



,\> ujrcady explained, the average area of the district is two and ono-half miles square. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



49 



of the normal school by assi^ninS them to fill tem- 
porary vacancies ia the primary schools, occasioned 
by the absence of the regular teachers. 

Vocal music is taught in all the schools, and every 
pupil may learn to read music at sight. 

THE GROWTH OF THE SYSTEM, 

The system of management of the St. Louis public 
schools is such as to make them very popular. 
Tliere is no parental coer(;ion necessary; the child 
loves to go to scliool, and cannot be kept away. 
The discipline is very mild, tliougli firm. Corporal 
punishment is rarely administered (tlie average for 
the entire city being less than one case per week for 
each four hundred pupils). The lessons are made 
interesting to tlie children. It is not surjjrising, 
therefore, that the schools are liked by the people, 
where they are so attractive to the children. 

The total number of teachers employed is over 
one thousand, counting both' the teachers of the 
day schools and those of the evening schools. 

From the continuous increase of attendance on 
these schools much may be inferred as to the 
growth of the city of St. Louis, as well as to the 
prevalence of education among all classes, rich and 
poor. Here is a table covering a period of fourteen 
years, and indicating the day schools and evening 
schools separately, and showing increase of number 
of pupils: 



Year Ending 


No. Pupils 
in Day 
Schools. 


Increase 
Over Pre- 
vious Year. 


No. Pupils 

in Evening 

Schools. 


August 1, 1864... 


12,340 




1,021 


1865... 


13,926 


1,586 


1,471 


1866... 


14,556 


630 


1,672 


1867... 


15,29J 


735 


1,553 


1868... 


18,460 


3,169 


2,134 


1869... 


21,186 


2,726 


2,528 


1870... 


24,347 


. 3,161 


2,464 


187L.. 


27,578 


3,231 


3,609 


" 1872... 


30,294 


2,716 


4,137 


1873... 


33,928 


3,634* 


4,015 


1874... 


34,273 


345 1 


5,577 


1875... 


35,941 


1,608 


5,751 


1876... 


38,390 


2,449 


5,273 


" ■ 1877... 


42,436 


4,046 


5,240 


1878... 


49,578 


7,142 


6,417 



•13th Ward came in. flSth Ward went out. 



The source and amount of i-evenue of the public 
schools was, August 1, 1878: 

Received from city tax $891 ,599 

Amount received for each mill of tax 

assessed 178,319 

Received from rents 47,427 

Received from State school fund 85,117 

By the balance sheet for the year ending August 
1, 1878, it will be seen that the amount of real estate 
held for revenue, is, at its present 

Estimated value $1,276,633.50 

For school purposes 2,821,596.72 

Total, real estate $4,098,230.22 

The debt of the schools has been reduced to 
about $200,000, and will be entirely extinguished by 
the sinking fund tax of five cents on each one hun- 
dred dollars of assessed property in St. Louis, with- 
in three years. The new State Constitution does 
not permit school boards or other public corpora- 
tions to incur debts beyond the capacity of the an- 
nual income to liquidate. 

SCHOOL BUILDINGS. 

Nearly all of the school buildings have been con- 
structed since 1858, and upon new and improved 
plans, securing plenty of light and ventilation for 
the pupils. The furniture is of a i)atteru well 
adapted to the comfort of the child, and each school 
is well provided with apparatus for illustration of 
school work. The school yards are of sufficient size, 
and furnished with all the requisite accommoda- 
tions. The schools are centrally located, so as to 
be easy of access from all parts of the district. 
The primary and grammar schools being for the 
most part situated in the same buildings, are found 
convenient where parents desire to have the 
younger children attend school with the elder 
children for the sake of personal care and super- 
vision. 

This evidence of the liberal spirit prevailing 
among the citizens and tax-payers of St. Louis is 
convincing, and ought to be borue in mind by the 
foreigner who seeks a new home in America. 
In St. Louis he may give his children that 
greatest of blessings, a good education in its 
free schools. 



Beligious Statistics. 



The facts and figures here presented have been 
obtained from leading ministers of the different 
Christian denominations of the State or from the 
latest statistics officially published. 

It will be observed that the Catholic bishop re- 
ports a membership in that church of "nearly" 
200,000. This number, it is understood, includes 
those baptised by regular ministers of that church, 
whether the persons thus baptised be regular com- 



municants or not, and the same is the case with the 
Protestant Episcopal Church. The bishop ex- 
pressly stated the number of communicants to be 
6,000 and the membership 25,000. In other denomi- 
nations "church members" include only communi- 
cants. 

In the report of the number of churches a dis- 
tinction is to be made. It is understood that the 
Baptists and the Christians or Disciples report the 



50 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



number of church organizations, giving the number 
at 1,385, not claiming to have that number of 
chui-ch- houses or houses set apart for tlie purpose 
of divine worship; whUe other denominations re- 
port church-houses and not oi'ganizations ; and, 
although there is a church organization for every 
house so reported, there are also a large number of 
small organizations without regular houses of wor- 



ship, occupying school or such other houses as may 
be temporarily at their disposal. 

There are one or two denominations in the State 
— the Unitarians, for instance — of whom no satisfac- 
tory information could be collected on the i)oints 
designated. They have tlu-ee or four church-houses 
in the State ; but no estimate can be given of the 
number of churches or members. 



DENOMINATIONS. 



Catholic 

Protestant Episcopal 

Lutheran Independent Evangelical. 

" English Evangelical 

" German " 

Presbyterian, U. S. North 

" " South 

" Cumberland 

" United 

" Reformed 

Congregational 

Baptist 



Christian, about 

Methodist Episcopal, South 

North 

" " African 

African Methodist Episcopal, Zion 

Colored " " 

Methodist, Protestant and Free Methodist Episcopal Churcli. 

Total 



about.. 




539,004 



Note.— Church members of the Catholic and Protestant Churches include all persons baptised into 
the church. 



Society in Missouri. 



The condition of society in a State to which the 
attention of the emigrant is directed is of the 
greatest importance. Thomas C. Fletcher, a former 
Republican governor of the State, spoke of society 
in Missouri, in his address to the Convention, as fol- 
lows: 

" The class of men who would be indifferent to 
the condition of society in our State we do not wish 
to invite to come among us. 'I'liis is a subject upon 
which you all have information, and what I shall 
here utter goes to the world with the indorsement 
of this most truly representative body of men ever 
assembled in our State. 

" I assert that nowhere beneath the flag of the 
Republic is there greater personal liberty or broader 
political privileges than here in Missouri; that 
nowhere is the personal liberty or the political 



privileges of the citizen better assured by constt- 
tutional provision and legislative enactment; that 
nowhere on earth are the political rights of the 
citizen held more inviolate or more uninterruptedly 
enjoyed by eveiy class, condition qj- color of citizens 
than here in Missouri. I here boldly assert that not 
only are the political rights of the citizen guarded 
and protected, but that, in addition, the security of 
the citizen in his life, liberty and property is assured 
by as strong enactment of laws and as faithful en- 
forcement of them as under any government on the 
face of the eaxth ; that our people are courageous, 
law-abiding men, who uphold the power of the 
laws and aid in their enforcement. 

"Our educational facilities arc 0(|ual to those of 
the most favored people of our country. Our system 
of free education being modeled upon the most 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



51 



approved systems the world has ever known, and 
our free schools are munificently endowed by the 
State. Our churches and facilities for free and 
unrestrained religious worship and religious 
teaching, afford all the opportunity to men to 
worshij) God according to the dictates oi their 
own consciences and for religious instruction, 
enjoyed by the most Christian communities of the 
Republic. 

" We are a free people, with a free press, free- 
dom of thought, of speech, of action, with every 
political right guaranteed and protected, with life, 
liberty, and property guarded by just lawg and 
strong arms to enforce them, with education free, 
and everywhere attainable ; with religious opinions 
respected and freedom and opportunity of worship ; 
with room for pi-ofltable and happy homes for Ave 



million more people, we are warranted in inviting 
them to come." 

The speaker then spoke of the characteristics of 
the early settlers of the State and of their posterity, 
and of the general character of the more recent set- 
tlers ; the nationalities and habits and manners of 
the people, their social qualiWes, saying, in conclu- 
sion, that " their hospitality'was not bounded by the 
area of their acquaintance, but every cabin door is 
open to the stranger, and strong arms and true 
heai-ts are around and about the new-comer who 
desires to make his home among them." He favor- 
ed the comingling of races by which there would 
be formed a homogeneous people in Missouri who 
would take the highest rank among peoples of the 
earth, and produce the noblest type of the man of 
America. 



Game and Fish. 



Missouri has been the feeding ground for vast 
herds of the choicest of the large game animals up 
to the present generation. Old hunters and trap- 
pers, still living, tell marvelous, but true, stories of 
their exploits with the gun. As civilization and 
population advanced westward their numbers de- 
creased, yet Missouri is still furnishing a very large 
proportion of the game for the markets of all the 
large cities of the United States. Even London 
receives large shipments, every winter, from St. 
Louis. From October 1st to February 1st, of every 
year, there is not an express car arriving in St. 
Louis which does not bring large consignments of 
game. The quantity is enormous, and far beyond 
the knowledge of every one except tliose engaged 
in the tra^de, or whose duties bring them in contact 
with the facts. 

GAME LAWf<. 

The wise game laws of Missouri, now being under- 
stood by her people, and enforced by the proper 
State officers, have put a check on 'this wholesale 
depletion, by coulining shipments to legitimate 
periods, and forl)idding the transportation and sale 
of game during the close season. 

ELK, BUFFALO AND ANTELOPE. 

These animals, once so numerous on Missouri 
soil, like the Indian, have ejnigrated westward, 
perhaps never to return. 

RED DEER. 

This is the largest and finest of the game animals. 
They are found in every portion of the State, and 
are especially numerous in the thinly settled, hilly 
and mountainous districts. They are also numerous 
in the swampy districts. These two districts, per- 
haps, embrace one-h:tlf of the area of the State. 
In fact, the Ozark Mountains and the swampy lands 
of Southeast Missouri constitute a great doer park 
and game preserve, and will continue to do so until 
immigration crowds out the game. It is a notorious 
fact, that venison sells as cheaply as good beef, in 
St. Louis markets, during the winter season. 



WILD TURKEY. 

This is the most royal of all the game birds of this 
or any other continent. They are so numerous and 
common, in most parts of the State, as not to be 
appreciated at their proper value. They vary in 
weight, from the small hen of five pounds to the 
royal male bird of twenty-flve pounds. 

In season, wild turkeys sell in the St. Louis mar- 
ket at from seventy-live cents to one and a half 
dollars each, according to size. Wild turkeys feed 
in flocks of from ten to forty. They are most 
numerous in the swampy and mountainous districts, 
but are found in all parts of the State. 

PRAIRIE CHICKENS OR PINNATED GROUSE. 

These fine birds are found exclusively in the 
prairie portions of Missouri, which embrace from 
one-third to one-half the State. Prairie chickens 
or pinnated grouse are natives of all the western 
prairies, and have been exceedingly numerous, but 
of course have been somewhat thinned out by ad - 
vancing civilization ; yet the markets are bountifully 
supplied with this large and delicious bird at an 
average of seventy-five cents per pair. Prairie 
chickens are shipped from Missouri to Eastern and 
other markets in vast numbers, probably hnndreds 
of barrels. Under the operation of the State game 
laws, these birds will rapidly increase in numbers. 

QUAIL OR VIRGINIA PARTRIDGE. 

Every ijortion of Missouri abounds with this 
gamest of game bii-ds. Their favorite haunts being 
in and around the farms, the numbers are increas- 
ing as the number of farms multiplj'. The snow in 
this State rai-ely falls so heavy or remains so long 
on the ground as to destroy quails, as it does in the 
States north of this.. This bird is a general favorite 
with farmers, sportsmen and epicures, and gives 
more pleasure than any other game among us. 
Quails are shipped from Missouri by the thousand 
barrels each season. The average i^rice in the 
St. Louis market at retail is about one dollar and a 
half per dozen. 



52 



Hand-Book or Missouri. 



RABBITS AND SQUIRRELS. 

The rabbit, as it is popularly called here, is a 
species of hare, aud is about the average size of the 
domestic cat. They are so numerous in Missouri 
as to be considered a pest ; are found in every field 
and forest in the State, and during the winter 
season afford a vast supply of good food to the 
people. In consequence of the great supply they 
are not appreciated. Rabbits sell for ten cents 
apiece in the market. 

Squirrels are also very numerous, especially in 
the swampy and hilly regions. The two principal 
varieties are tlie grey squirrel and the red fox squir- 
rel. One of these varieties is to be found in every 
clump of timbered land in the State. They are 
highly appreciated as game and food. 

MIGRATORY BIRDS. 

Wild ducks, wild geese, snipe, plover and several 
species of the rail frequent Missouri during 
their annual migrations north and south. During 
3Iarch, Ajiril and May the migratory birds pass 
tlirough Missouri, going north to their nesting and 
brooding places, probably near the Arctic circle. 
In October, November and December they return 
on their journey soutliward to spend the winter. 
There is no State in the great Mississippi basin 
more frequented by these migratory game birds 
than Missouri. Their principal flights are over the 
bottom lands of the rivers and over the marshy and 
wet i)ortions of the prairies. Perhaps there is no 
county in the State wliicii does not possess suitable 
feeding grounds for these birds. They are killed in 
Buch quantities that the home markets in proper 
season are always stocked with a full varietj' and at 
very low prices. The swampy districts of Missouri, 
embracing several million acres of land, and lying 
chiefly in Southeast Missouri, are famous througli- 
©ut the Mississippi Valley for wild fowl shooting. 
There are many smaller lakes lying in the river 
bottoms and also small lakes or ponds in the prairie 
regions afl'ording fine sport. 

FISH IX MISSOURI. 

This State is magnificently supplied with rivers. 
The Mississippi is the eastern boundaiy of the 
State. Without counting its meanderings, Missouri 
has a border of more than five hundred miles on 
this great river. The Missouri River is the largest 
tributarj^ of the Mississippi, and is navigable for 
three thousand miles above St. Louis. It crosses 
through the State from east to west, dividing it into 
two nearly equal parts; thence it goes northwest, 
constituting a portion of the western boundary of 
the State, traversing it for more than six hundred 
miles. The tributaries of these great rivers in Mis- 
souri are too numerous even to mention, in this lim- 
ited space. 

A number of these tributaries are navigable, viz. : 
The Osage, Gasconade, St. Francois, Black and 
Current Rivei'.s. In Southwest Missouri are large 
tributaries of White and Arliansas Rivers, having 
their sources in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, 
at an altitude of one thousand to lil'teeu hundred 
feet above the ocean. The Ozark .Mountains, with 
the hiUy country adjacent, constitute nearly one- 
half of the State, and are watered by clean and 
beautiful streams. North, Northeast and Northwest 



Missouri are watered by a great number of fine 
streams, flowing directly into the Mississippi and 
Missouri Rivers. 

The early settlers found the rivers and lakes 
teeming with many fine varieties of game and food 
fish. There is still a bountiful supply, but, of course, 
not as great as when the State was more thinly 
settled. 

Black bass, perch, catfish, Iniffalo fish, suckers and 
pike constitute the leading varieties of native fish. 

Black bass of several varieties inhabit every 
stream of considerable size in the State, and every 
lake contains them. It is the best game fish in the 
State. 

The perch family is represented by several dozen 
species ; and perch qf several kinds are found in 
every body of water in the State, which does not 
actually dry up in the summer time. 

The catfish of Missouri are not only numerous, 
but famous the world over. There are at least a 
dozen species in the waters of this State. They vary 
in size from one pound to two hundred pounds. The 
catfish is a good food fish, but so common that it is 
not appreciated. It will thrive in all waters, and 
under proper protection it multiples with great 
rapidity. The parent fish protect its young like a, 
hen protects her chickens, until they are able to take 
care of themselves. This fact added to tlie defen- 
sive powers of the catfish, through the horny, sharp 
spears on their body, accounts for their great num- 
bers in all the waters of the State. 

BUFFALO FISH AND SUCKERS. 

The buffalo fish is the largest of the numerous 
sucker family in the State. They often attain a 
weight of twenty pounds and u])wards. It is a good 
food fish, and is found in every portion of the State. 
It is especially fond of sluggish waters ; its habits 
are very similar to the European carp, which is also 
a sucker. There are many species of suckers, all of 
which are good food fish, butpossess no game" prop- 
erties, as the)' rarely take a hook. 

Pike, of several species are found throughout. 
Missouri, and rank with black bass as game fish. 
They are found in the clearer and rapid streams. 

The above list constitute the leading fish of the 
State, but by no means all, as there are many minor 
species. 

FISH LAWS AND FISH COMMISSION. 

Missouri has now good laws for the protection and 
propagation of fish. Under these laws there is an 
efficient fish commission, which is accomplishing 
much toward protecting tlie native fish, and re- 
stocking the streams with new varieties. The 
people are alive to the necessity of enforcing all 
such laws, and the fish commissio^^think that within 
a comparatively few years, the rivers and lakes of 
Missouri will teem again with this most desirable 
and necessary food. There is no part of Missouri 
in which good fish and fishing cannot lie had. In 
many portions of the State the fishing is very 
superior. 

FISH CULTURE IN MISSOURI. 

This new industry is yet in its infancy in the whole 
Mississippi valley; but under the fostering care of 
the fish commission, and the growing imiiorlance of 
it in the older States, there is little doubt that 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



53 



Missouri will soon take nold of the importaut sub- 
ject and give it rapid development. There is such a 
great variety of waters that every valuable inland 
lisli can be cultivated and propagated. In the Ozark 
Mountains and hills are to be found numerous 
great springs, many of them so large as to turn 
mills and other machinery. These springs and the 
brooks flowing from tliem, furnish splendid oppor- 
tunities for trout culture. The flsh commission has 
already stocked many of the springs and brooks 
with speckled trout, and has no doubt that they will 
prosper. Tlie 6omraission are also importing from 
California the red-sided trout, which will thrive in 
warmer waters than the eastern varieties. 



GEriMAN CARP. 



This valuable food flsh has been successfully 
imported from Germany into the United States, and 
the flsh commissions are propagating them in Mis- 
souri. Those now in this country have grown so 
rapidly that there is little doubt of the success of 
the exiieriment. All the waters of Missouri are 
adapted to this flsh, more especially the lakes and 
sluggish streams. The cai-j) can be as easily culti- 
vated as pigs or turkeys, and it is hoped that in a 
few years all the streams of the State will be stocked 
with them. 



Why the Emigrant Should Come to Missouri. 



In reply to the inquiry why he came to Missouri, 
the Hon. L. J. Farwell, a former governor of Wis- 
consin, but now a citizen of Missouri, said, among 
other things : 

" I came to Missouri to secure, as far as possible, 
the beneflts of an equable climate, a fleld of diversi- 
fled industries, and of certain mental, moral and 
material advancement, which, from the very nature 
of things, could know no pause. I sought a location 
where the cold or winter season was of three, and not 
of six months' duration, and where from the contour 
of the surface, needful altitude could be selected to 
overcome any imaginary danger to health from 
change of latitude— indeed, where North and South 
could meet on common equality. 

" Where the earth teems with plenty, there is little 
cause for consuming anxiety. Xeither wintry bliz- 
card nor summer cyclone are here to molest or m.ake 
us afraid. 

" The State of Missouri occupies 

AN EXCEPTIONAL POSITION 

in certain respects, eve^ when compared with 
others in the same zone. Generally it may be 
considered in itself as a valley, the channel of its 
great river marking the center line of its greatest 
dejiression. The soil of its bottom lands is the pro- 
duct of all the Territories east of tlie Rocky Moun- 
tains, and this is largelj^ true of its uplands. North- 
ern snows seldom penetrate below the central line 
of division. It lies south of the snow line, and north 
of the dry, hot-air regions that reach to tlie Gulf of 
Mexico ; a zone of precipitation generally quite 
stable when years are compared together. Crops are 
neither Avinter-killed, nor do they perish of drouth 
or of excess of moisture ; all forms of agriculture 
thrive, and a growing diversity is annually visible. 
Fruit culture scarce has limit to its range of varie- 
ties. The grasses insure successful stock-raising to 
an unlimited extent. Winters are short, usually 
without great extremes of temperature. Summei's 
being without excessive heats ; in which respect the 
climate widely differs from regions further north. 
Nor is the climate of Missouri enervating, but 
agrees with new-comers, whether from the North or 
South. 



WEALTH OF MINERALS. 

" In minerals Missouri is the equal of any State in 
the Union, and the most favored portions of Europe. 
The time is near at hand, when its manufactures, 
in extent and variety, will be equal to those of the 
Eastern States. Generally, every condition for di- 
versified industries is completely developed. In a 
commercial sense it is the gateway of the plains and 
mountains, as it is the midway of the continent ; a 
local point toward which all great public enterprises 
tend, and from which they radiate. That it is to be- 
come and continue the very seat and center of intel- 
lectual activity and reflnement is manifest from sur- 
rounding conditions. 
/ 
A SERIOUS MISTAKE. 

" Foryears I have seen scores of thousands of peo- 
ple induced to locate on the.cold, naked and treeless 
plains of the North, where winter temperature often 
reaches 50 « below zero, and which scarce enjoys 
four months of yearly warmth, all because no or- 
ganized effort is or has been made to direct them to 
a country in every sense more inviting. Think once 
of Manitoba and D.akotaas a winter home compared 
with the mild climate of Missouri. It is as the ice- 
berg to the summer sunshine. 

NO FAMINE. 

" The people of Missouri have been wonderfully 
blessed. Never imperiled or distressed by famine; 
capital and la,bor always in demand ; a country un- 
derlaid with coal, iron, lead, and other minerals and 
metals, sufficient to support the country's demand 
for all time to come. 

CHEAP LANDS. 

" In the very nature of things, Missouri offers good 
and cheap lands, employment, full shelter and food 
to all within her borders, also railroad and water 
transportation upon a basis that is beyond compe- 
tition in any part of the United States, if not in any 
other portion of the world. 



54 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



BKOAD TRUTHS. 

" Missouri did not begin its government by invit- 
ing immigration. It lias never made a genuine 
effort until now to point out its superior advantages, 
or to compare them with other sections. As a conse- 
quence, great errors exist in the public imagination, 
and the wildest absurdities abound, having the effect 
of a living force. That this is a free State, as much so 
as any other, is a truth as yet but little appreciated 
even in this country, much less abroad. The old 
prejudice and credulity still lingers, and is artfully 
used by adverse interests. That we enjoy the bene- 
lits of a comprehensive and universally diffused 
common school system, in all its gradations, with 
academies, colleges, and a university, and churches 
representing every state of religious belief ; a gov- 
ernment of law and order ; property safe, life secure, 
taxation light, and prosperity universal, are facts 
by no means sufficiently impressed on the outside 
world. 

PECULIARLY AUAI'TEl) TO STOCK-RAISING. 

" The peculiar soil of Missouri renders it the most 
available State in the Union for stock-raising. As 
the native grass is consumed, blue grass comes in 
spontaneously, and all cultivated grass seeds, such 
as timothy, peel top, clover, and orchard grass, are 
a success, even when sown upon the sod, and a lux- 
uriant growth is thus insured, owing to the absence 
of drouths, and a certain average rainfall the year 
round. 

" The 

MISSOURI CLIMATE IS STEADY 

and reliable for varied and diversified crops, and 
this insures a large extra percentage of profit to 
her citizens. I can refer to farmers here Avho have 
never lost a crop in forty years, and to others in 
States where there has been a partial or total fail- 
ure every few years, and no certainty at any time. 

• POPULATIVE CAPACITY. 

" Other States are classified as first, second, third 
and fourth, in population,wliich have reached nearly 
a full development. Yet Missouri, while she stands 
as the fifth, is capable, and will have at some future 



time, three or four times her present population 
and wealth. Her agricultural and mineral resources 
are beyond calculation. It is destined, at no distant 
day, to be the richest State in the Union ; as yet, 
development is in its infancy. 

MISSOURI FARMS. 

" In Illinois, improved farms are held at from fifty 
to eighty dollars per acre, and the lands have been 
under cultivation for many years. Wild lands are 
often held at forty dollars per acre. Immigi-anta 
can buy as good farms in this State of virgin soil 
for one-third, and often for one-fourth the above 
figures, fully the equal of the Illinois farms, and 
better; because the latter ai-e often wet, level plains, 
requiring artificial drainage, while those here have 
a natural drainage. The same difference is found 
in the price of raw lands in the two States. 

"No better evidence can be given of the great 

ADVANTAGE OF SETTLEMENT HERE 

than that a large portion of the present popu- 
lation have once resided west of the Missouri 
River, sold out, and returned to a State which 
they had at first merely passed through. Our 
present population is largely made up of set- 
tlers from Eastern and Northern States. In 
some counties, eighty-five per cent, hail from the 
old free States. They are exerting a powerful 
influence, and uniting their efforts in securing a 
better civilization, higher culture, greater activity 
and continuous progress in all the great reforms of 
the day. 

SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE. 

" This is the substance of my experience. If, of 
the multitudes of personal acquaintances elsewhere, 
it shall induce some of them to follow, I think they 
will agree that Missouri embodies within itself more 
advantages of kinds, in whatever light the subject 
is considei'cd, than any other Westei-n State. I 
have repeatedly visited nearly all, and balanced 
advantages and disadvantages against each other. 
My conclusions are the sum of careful study and 
comparison," 



'^-^^^^'^^^(^^ 



The Three Great Cities of Missouri, 



St. Louis. 



All the naUiral features and conditions necessary 
to fix the site and encourage the growth of a great 
' metropolis were happily combined in the selection 
of the location of St. Louis, and there is no fear of 
tlie criticism of enthusiasm or exaggeration in 
making this statement, for the facts of nature are as 
apparent now as on the day that Laclede fixed his 
camp. A superb river flowing unobstructed to the 
sea, and affording access northward and westward 
to the interior of the continent; a fertile, undulat- 
ing country stretching away on all sides for hun- 
dreds of miles, with forest and prairie in such 
happy juxtaposition that the hand of the husband- 
man was only lacking to gather the best fruits of the 
earth ; a mild and salubrious climate, materials for 
building, whether in brick, stone or wood, in abun- 
dance, and incalculable riches in iron and coal. 
These were the inducements of Nature for the 
founding of a city, and it is these fortunate facts 
that support the fabric of the municipal greatness 
and influence of St. Louis. 

St. Louis is essentually the result — the creature of 
the limitless and fertile regions that surround it. 
It is the outgrowth of the development and settle- 
ment of the country — of the natural laws incident 
to human progress. Its prosperity is not dependent 
on any special trade or industiy, but on the con- 
stant united i)roductions and wants of a wonderful 
country, traversed by navigable rivers in all direc- 
tions, and continually increasing in wealth and 
population. Without indulging in any wild specu- 
lations resjiectJug the destiny of St. Louis, it seems 
quite within the bounds of sober reason to antici- 
pate that the same causes which have made it the 
city it is to-day, must greatly enlarge and enrich it 
in the future. It is a fact that this magnificent val- 
ley of the Mississijjpi possesses at present only a 
fraction of tlie Population it is capable of sustain- 
ing, and that, as its settlement advances, as its 
agricultui-al, mineral and manufacturing ijossibili- 
ties are developed, the central, capital miist expand 
and gi'ow contemporaneously with its tributary ter- 
ritory. It is rational, then, to expect, that unless 
political convulsions interfere to retard progress, 
this city must become the controlling inland city of 
the continent — situated, as it is, about tlie middle of 
the greatest food-producing country in the world, 
with a free water-way to the sea, and a syst'em of 
rivers i)enetrating to the interior north, south and 
west, it is rapidly becoming the distributing 
point and emporium of the great West, and draw- 
ing to itself incalculable elements of wealth. 

TJie substantial and practical causes underlying 
the city's growth, have been reflected in the spirit 
and cliaracter of its citizens. The ruling charac- 
teristic of the business men has been thrift and 
prudence. 



The disposition of St. Louis merchants is, to ex- 
tend Imsiness only by regular and legitimate meth- 
ods, and to establish it on a solid and reliable basis ; 
to advance equally with the development of the 
country, and not ahead of it. It certainly can be 
truthfully said of St. Louis, that there is less rash 
and reckless speculation among its people, and less 
indebtedness, and more solid wealth and private 
ownership of property, in ijroportion to population, 
than in any other city of the country. It is this 
wise and steady spirit tliat has laid the foundation 
of nearly all of its industrial and commercial enter- 
prises, and given strength and permanence to the 
city's prosperity. Progress inspired in this way is 
more safe and more certain than any other, and 
more promising of future results. 

HISTORY AND GROWTH OF THE CITY. 

A detailed review of the history and growth of 
St. Louis is not to be expected here. It is sufficient 
to present such facts as convey a dear view of tlie 
city's history and progress. 

The city was founded in the month of February, 
1764, by an expedition headed by Laclede, and 
which was organized in New Orleans for the pur- 
pose of establishing a trading post and promoting 
the exploration and settlement of the vast regions 
stretching northward and traversed by the Missis- 
sippi. The fur trade witli the Indians was prob- 
ably the ijractical object of the i)roposed enter- 
prise, but doubtless that love of adventure which 
has always exercised so large an influence in the 
development of new and unknown lauds was the 
feeling that inspired most of the members of the 
jjarty. There had been some exploration of the 
intei-ior of the continent by La Salle, Hennepin, 
Marquette and others, and a few military posts had 
been established ; but there was no general knowl- 
edge respecting it, and it was still invested with 
the romance of the unknown. The very ownership 
of the immense territory was vague and undefined, 
so far as European powers were concerned; and 
it appears that Laclede, when he established his 
camp on the present site of St. Louis, named the 
embryo town after a French monarch, wheu the 
teiTitory west of the Mississippi had been really 
ceded to Spain. The voyage up the Mississippi in 
the rude boats of that day required nearly three 
months, and, although the party left New Orleans 
early in August, they did not arrive at Ste. Gene- 
vieve until October. A brief delay took place at 
this settlement, and then Laclede pi-oceeded to 
Fort de Chartres, and thence as far north as the 
junction of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers; 
and on his return the selection of the present site 
of St. Louis was made as a place for a permanent 
post. The first settlers were few in number, but 



56 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



they were men of energy and industry, and rapid 
progress was made in establishing a regular and 
well-proteoted post. 

Wlien tlie Fort de Chartres was surrendered to J 
the P^nglish, in accordance with the provisions of ' 
the treaty of Paris, the garrison commanded by 
Louis St. Ange de Belleiive, was transferred to St. 
Louis, and the post acquired new influence and 
importance. Between the years 17G(J and 1770 de- 
cided steps were taken by the Spanish government 
to assert its control over the vast provinces of Upper 
and Lower Louisiana. In 1771 St. Louis was taken 
possession of by Don Pedro Piernas, who brought 
to the post a small body of Spanisli troops. At that 
time there were small xettlaments at Oaroudelet, 
then called Vide Poclie, and afterward Carondelet, 
in honor of a French nobleman of that name, and 
also at St. Chai'les and some other points within a 
radius of flfty or a hundred miles. Cruzat succeeded 
I'iernas as governor, and he was followed, in 1778, by 
Fernando de Leyba. During the administration of 
the latter the young city was attacked by Indians, 
May 25th, 1780, tlie festival of Corpus Christi. The 
war of the revolution was then in progress, and the 
attack is supposed to have been instigated by 
English influence. The governor was suspected of 
complicity in the afFairj and his barbarous conduct 
toward the inhabitants during the attack, affords 
ground for the suspicion. About thirty of the citizens 
were killed, but the Indians were beaten otf and did 
not renew the attack. Leyba was soon after r^noved 
and Cruzat again pLaccd in command. He strength - 
ened the fortifications of the post by constructing 
a stockade, connecting stone forts, but the place 
was not again subjected to hostile operations. A 
period of twenty years followed unmarked by 
any notable events. The Spanish governors in 
charge, who succeeded Cruzat, were Manuel Perez, 
Zenon Trudeau and Chai-les Dehault Delassus. In 
the latter part if 180,3, tlie territory of Louisiana 
was transferred back to France, in accordance with 
a treaty between that power and Spain ; but there 
was no general assertion of French control, owing 
to the war \vith Great Britain. The celebrated 
Louisiana purchase, by which the province became 
the property of the ""nited States, was consummated 
the same year, and in the "usuing year Captain 
Stoddard, acting for the French government, for- 
mally transfei-red it to the Cnited States. 

The spirit of the Spanish government was mild 
and liljcral, but the progress of the young settle- 
ment was necessarily slow, as it was surrounded by 
a vast wilderness and a greater body of population 
was necessary to open the country to the influences 
of civilization. True prosperity and advancement 
were the fruit of American institutions and the rest- 
less spirit of progress that sprung from the inde- 
pendence and organization of the American Union. 
Captain Stoddard M^as appointed chie*f oiHcer of the 
provisional go\crnmeut organized by Congress, and 
proved a judicious and gifted governor, and it is from 
his official proceedings and a treatise published by 
him on Louisiana, thallhe most authentic historical 
information of the i)eriod is derived. St. Louis and 
the adjacent district then had an aggregate ix)pula- 
tion of 2,280, and the total po])ulation of Upper 
Louisiana was about 9,000, including 1,800 blacks. 
Tluirc were not more than two hundred substantial 
dwellings, strung along the two most important 



streets, which ran parallel to the river, and the land 
west of Fourth street was still in a state of nature. 
There were no public buildings worthy of the name ; 
mails were rare and infrequent. Many of the 
features now considered essential to civilized life 
were wholly wanting, and the fur trade contiuued to 
be the principal business. Such was St. Louis in 
the early years of thepi-esent century; and it is only 
when viewed in its infancy, and contrasted with 
the metropolis of to-day, that an adequate idea is 
gained of the colossal growth accomplished within 
sixty or seventy years. 

During the following twenty years, various event* 
occurred which indicated the commencement of a 
vigorous growth, commercially and socially. A 
])ost-oflice was created, the " Missouri Gazette," the 
first newspaper, was established in 1808, by Joseph 
Charless, and subsequently merged in the present 
"Missouri Kepublican." The town was incorpor- 
ated in 1809, and a board of trustees elected to con- 
duct the municipal government. In 1812 the Terri- 
tory of Missouri was designated, and a legislative 
asseinbly authorized. The Missouri Fur Company 
was organized ; energetic measures were adopted to 
explore flie country north and west, for Clie puiijose 
q£ .settlement, and the extension of trade with the 
Indians ; the judicial and educational systems were 
adjusted on a permanent basis, and the trading post 
began to adapt itself to the forms of civilization. 
The Missouri Bank Mas incorporated in 1817. The 
first steamboat arrived at the foot of Market street 
in the year 1815, to be followed soon by others, lu 
1819 the first steamer ascended the Missouri, and the 
first through boat from New Orleans aiTived, having 
occupied twenty-seven days in the trip. From 
about this period there is no lack of historical details 
respecting St. Louis, for newspapers had begun to 
multiply, and in 1821 a city directory was issued. 
The facts stated in this volume show that the town 
was then an important and thriving one. There 
were a number of substantial brick l>uildings; the 
Catholic cathedral, commenced in 1818, was one of 
the finest church edifices in the country, and thei'e 
were several other church buildings. There were 
ten common schools, three newspapers, a Masonic 
hall, a substantial stone jail, and the site had already 
been selected for a court house. Two steam ferries 
were operated between the Illinois and Missouri 
shores, and two fire companies, wjth engines and 
other apparatus, were in existence. The principal 
articles of trade were furs, peltries and lead, and 
(piite a long.list of agricultural productions, showing 
that the cultivation of the soil was rapidly progress- 
ing. The annual imports were estimated to reach a 
sum of $2,000,000, and the steamboat business had 
assumed in>i)ortant proportions. The ijopulation of 
the city, as given in this publication, was 5,500, and 
of the town and county, 9,7o2. At this time, how- 
ever, -the assessed value of taxable jn-operty was 
less than $1,000,000, and iho total corporation taxless 
than $4,000. The town limits, as established by act 
of incorporation in 1809, were from Mill Creek (near 
site of gas works), thence westwardly to about Sev- 
enth street, thence northwardly on Seventh street 
to Green street, thence easiivardly to the Mississippi 
Eiver. 

There had been some progress made in paving the 
streets, but it was not extensive, and the streets 
were narrow, and the city was still confined to the 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



streets in the vicinity of tlie river. During the suc- 
ceeding ten years, a not rapid, but steady growth 
characterized the young city, wliich was becoming 
gradually known as a place willi a promising future 
before it. Lafayette visited St. Louis in 1825, and 
was accorded an impressive public reception. A 
brick court house was erected, which was destined 
to be succeeded bj' the present imposing structure. 
Several handsome Protestant churches wore erected, 
the United States Arsenal was established, and 
Jefferson Barracks built. The names of the streets 
were revised, and the old system of designating 
them by letters abandoned, and measures were 
taken to construct water works. As illustrating 
how slowly the population clianged, it may be men- 
tioned that, in 1827, there were hardly more than a 
dozen German families in St. Louis. 

In 1830, the population had advanced to 6,694, and 
of the whole State to 140,455. The ensuing decade 
witnessed a remarkable increase in both. Immi- 
gration was greater than at any previous period, 
and business enterprises of all kinds rapidly multi- 
plied. In 1835, a convention was held to consider 
the question which, of all others, has exercised the 
most important influence in St. Louis, viz., that of 
railroads. This convention undoubtedly originated 
and stimulated the movement which afterward 
gave to St. Louis the Iron Mountain and Pacific 
lines. In 1836, a handsome tlieater was erected, and 
the following year the Bank of the State of Missoiiri 
was incorporated, with a -capital of $5,000,000; the 
first gas company was incorporated, and tlie build- 
ing of the Planters' House was commenced. The 
population then was 16,187, and the river business 
had so increased that thei-e were 184 steamboats 
engaged in it. The decade between 1840 and 1850 
saw increased advancement In all kinds of industiy, 
and in architectural growth. We find that in 1840 
there were manufactured 19,075 ban-els of flour, 
18,656 barrels of whisky, and 1,075 barrels of beef 
inspected, and other branches of business had cor- 
respondingly increased. The St. Louis University 
and Kemper College were now in full operation, and 
mills, breweries, foundries and other manufactur- 
ing establishments had multiplied: capital had 
been attracted by the growing commerce, and the 
metroplis of the future was foreshadowed. In 1846, 
the now' extensive Mercantile Libi-aiy was founded. 
The close of the decade, 1849, brought upon the 
city the double misfortune of flre and pestilence. 
On May 19th, the i^rincipal business section was 
swept away by a conflagration originating on a 
steamboat at the levee ; and, during the summer of 
the same j'ear, the population was scourged by 
cholera. In 1851, the first railroad enterjirise— the 
building of the Missouri Pacific — was inaugurated, 
and quickly followed by othei's. From this period 
to the present time, needs no special review. 

The development of industries and trade in all 
liranches, tlie growth in building and population, 
the establishment of parks, public schools and in- 



stitutions, the extension of railroads, the erection 
of hotels and theatres, the building of the great- 
bridge, of tlie ^ilercliauts' Exchange, and the estab- 
lisiiment of the Union Depot, require no detailed 
statement, no illustration. 

* 
INCREASE OF POPULATION. 

The growth of the city in population was as 
follows ; 

1799 925 

1810 1,400 

1821) 4,928 

1828 5,000 

1830 5,862 

1833 6,397 

18:^5 8,316 

1837 12,040 

1840 16,469 

1844... 34,140 

18.50 74,439 

ia52 94,000 

1856 125,200 

1860 160,773 

1860 204,327 

1870— I'liited States Census 310,864 

1880 (estimated) 450,000 

There are several contiguous towns and villages 
that are really jjart and paycel of the city of St. 
Louis, and might correctly be embraced in a state- 
ment of the population. 

COMMERCE AND INDUSTRIES. 

The commerce and industries of St. Louis embrace 
a wide range of commodities and productions. The 
natural advantages of the situation of the city— the 
diversified productions of the immense territory 
of which it is the legitimate center and capital, have 
given to its trade and manufactures a truly cosnio- 
politai). character. It is at once a distributing and 
supply point for a vast region, and its trade neces- 
sarily represents the wants and the productions of 
the population of that region, both in imports, ex- 
ports and manufactures. An examination of the 
oflicial report on the trade and commerce of the city 
for the year just closed atfords satisfactory 
evidence not only of the comprehensive character 
of the business done, but of the rapid growth in all 
the more important branches of trade. This is par- 
ticularly observable in the receipts of wheat and 
other grain. Thus, in 1877, the total receipts of 
wheat amounted to 8,274,151 bushels, and in 1879 to 
17,093,363 bushels, showing an increase of over one 
hundred per cent, in two years. In many articles a 
nearly similar increase occurred, and the receiptij 
of cotton more than doubled within the same period. 
The follow'ing table exhibits a condensed view ol 
the aggregate business of the city in leading article* 
for the years stated. Several important branchej 
of business and manufacture are omitted, as com- 
parative figures were not obtainable : 



58 



Hand-Book of Missouhi. 



BUSINESS IN LEADING ARTICLES FOR THREE YEARS. 



ARTICLES. 



Flour— Amount manufactured bbls. 

" " handled 

Wheat— Total receipts bush. 

Corn— " " 

Oats— " " " 

Kye— " " " 

Barley— " " " 

All grain (including flour reduced to wheat) " 

Cotton— Receipts bales. 

Hemp — " " 

Bagging — Manufactured yards. 

Hay— Receipts, bales of 400 lbs bales. 

Tobacco— Receipts ; hhds. 

Lead— Receipts in pigs 80 lbs. average — pigs. 

Hog Product— Total exports lbs. 

Cattle— Receipts head. 

Sheep— " " 

Hogs — " > " 

Horses and Mules — Receipts " 

Lumber — Receipts feet. 

Shingles— " pieces 

Lath— " " 

■Wool— Total receipts Ujs. 

Hides— " " " 

Sugar— Received " 

Molasses — Shipped galls. 

Coffee— Received bags. 

Rice — Receipts bbls. 

Coal — " bush. 

Nails — " , kegs. 

Potatoes — Receipts Inish. 

Salt " bbls. 

" " sacks. 

" " bush, in bulk. 

Butter lbs. 



1877. 



1878. 



$1,517,921 

2,938,3-28 

8,274,151 

11,847.771 

3,124,721 

472,909 

1,326,490 

30,a35,700 

217,734 

7,930 

7,000,000 

322,344 

28,064 

790,028 

176,434,708 

411, 9(59 

200,,502 

896,319 

22,652 

165,304,150 

64,919,000 

15,973,200 

15,.521,975 

20,001,031 

93,642,572 

1,688,608 

197,099 

22,368 

35,a56,850 

510,590 

753,907 

202,377 

104,406 



$1,916,290 

3,633,872 

14,325,431 

9,009,723 

3,882,276 

845,932 

1,517,292 

36,107,3.34 

338,340 

5,0S7 

7,500,000 

330,981 

25,870 

764,357 

188,.529,593 

40<5,235 

168,095 

1,451,634 

27,878 

189,2.38,333 

S8,ai9,000 

33,993,000 

16,469,816 

17,129,895 

106,836,225 

1,844,260 

201,080 

25,600 

33,087,300 

522,399 

602,675 

271,521 

78,781 



8,627,056 



1879. 



$2,142,949 

4,154,754 

17,093,362 

13,360,6.36 

5,002,165 

713,728 

1,831,517 

46,037,578 

472,436 

4,072 

8,000,000 

461,979 

20,278 

817,594 

220,891,273 

420,654 

182,648 

1,762,224 

33,95S 

280,986,361 

77,811,.500 

27,713,700 

20,786,742 

20,042,734 

107,176,052 

1,684,960 

267,533 

34,213 

36,978,150 

575,538 

963,047 

244,966 

78,345 

439,788 

8,961,965 



FOREIGN SHIP.MENTS. 

The foreign shipments on through bills of lading during the years 1878 and 1879 were as follows for the 
articles stated: 





Flour. 
Bbls. 


Cotton. 
Bales. 


Wheat. 
Bush. 


Tobacco. 
Hhds. 


Can. Beef. 

Lbs. 


Meats. 
Lbs. 


Hams. 
Lbs. 


Totals for 1879 


619,103 


214,350 


325,013 


1,982 


11,267,355 


7,535,947 


1,431,841 




Totals for 1873 .' 


265,968 


129,821 


16,188 


7,.349 


168,700 


8,613,706 









TONNAGE RECEIPTS. 
These figures embrace ouly a few of the principal articles, and are presented simply to illustrate the 
extension of this department of trade. The growth of trade is also forcibly illustrated by the foUowiug 
table, taken from the last oiBeial report, showing tonnage receipts by river and rail: 



1879. 



1878. 



1877. 



1876. 



1875. 



Received by rail . . 
Received by river 

Total tons 

Shipped by rail . . . 
Shipi)ed by river. . 

Total tons 




3,785,307 
714,700 



3,464,388 
6-14,485 



2,2a),716 
677,145 



4,500,007 

1,880,559 
614,575 



4,108,873 

1,6.52,850 
597,670 



3,431,220 
688,755 

4,119,975 

1,659,9,50 
000,225 



3,2.32,770 
6&3,525 



2,896,295 

1,301,450 
639,095 



2,962,861 



2,495,2341 2,250,520 



2,260,175 



1,940,545 



Hand-Book of Missouei. 



59 



Of the increase of receipts, the largest proportion 
was from the West and South, and the same is true of 
the increase of sliijjiuents. The secretary of the 
Excliange states tliat " in all the leading commod- 
ities, with scarcely an exception, the result of the 
last year's business shows a gratifying increase." 

IMPORTS. 

The foreign value of commodities imported into 
St. Louis during 1S79 was $1,751,840, and the duties 
paid $823,852.98. The amounts of the annual custom- 
house collections, during a period of nearly twenty 
years, were as follows: 

Total col- 
Year. lections. 

1861 .f 18,609.78 

1862 31,019.64 

1863 49,910.33 

1864 94,759.92 

1865 654,583.21 

1866 834,935.78 

1867 1,297 ,2.55.88 

1868 I,4.57,9a5.66 

1869 1,764,112.31 

1870 2,037,484.15 

1871 1,905,309..55 

1872 ■ J 1,730,050.21 

1873 *. 1,406,646..30 

1874 1,703,.591.78 

1875 1,186,202.87 

1876 1 ,777,369.05 

1877 1,304,731.59 

1878 1,619,375.10 

1879 .'. ... 850,407.28 

The tables given above are onlj- partial illustra- 
tratious of the business of St. Louis. There are 
numerous comn>odities belonging to trade not em- 
braced therein ; they do not include any slrowing 
of manufactures, nor of the business in iron, gro- 
ceries, dry goods, boots and shoes, sj^ddlery, brew- 
ing, glass works, furniture making, carriage and 
wagon factoi'ies, and miscellaneous industries, nor 
the immense aggi-egate transactions of retail deal- 
ers. In the last LTnited States census, tlie value of 
the product of the city's manufactures was given at 
$158,761,013, and the invested capital, .?60,.357,001 ; and 
it is fair to presume that the increase, during the 
decade just closed, has been in correspondence with 
the general growth of the city in population and 
wealth. In reference to miscellaneous branches of 
city business and commerce, not included in the 
tabular exhibit given, a like increase may be pre- 
dicted. It is in connection, however, with the 
great staple articles of human food and human use, 
that the trade and commerce of St. Louis is best 
exemplified. 

THE. BANKING BUSINESS. 

At the close of the year 1879 there were five 
National Banks, and twenty State Banks doing 
business in the city. The aggregate assets, as offlci- 
ally returned, amounted to $41,321,911. The clearings 
for the year were $1,119,368,256, against $957,268,852 
for the year 1878, showing an increase of transac- 
tions of $162,099,374, which is at Oie rate of 17 per 
cent. Balances for the year 1879 aggregated $97,112,- 
269, against $85,875,281 in 1878. The policy of the 
banks is at once prudent and liberal ; money rarely 
rules at high rates in St. Louis, and the supply is 



seldom restricted. The enormous increase in the 
grain and cotton trade, and other important staples, 
is rapidiy extending banking operations, and the 
bankers and business men fully understand the sit- 
uation; new facilities, and increased capital are 
always ready to meet the demands of an expanding 
commerce. 

VALUES OF REAL AND PERSONAL PKOPERTY. 

There is no oflQlcial data for estimating the muiiic- 
ipal wealth, except the assessment for taxes. Tliis 
basis is not more satisfactory in St. Louis than in 
other large cities, because the real estate values :ire 
necessarily only approximations, and a large portion 
of the personal property either evades or is not sub- 
ject to taxation. The aggregate assessment has 
been reduced the last few years, owing to the 
exemption of church property and that held for 
^•haritable uses, under the new constitution, and to 
other causes. It was over .$180,000,000, in 1877, and is 
stated at $163,813,920, for the year 1879. This, to a 
stranger, would indicate a falling off in wealth, when, 
of course, the reverse is the case. Adding to the 
present assessment of real and personal property a 
rough estimate of the values not included therein, 
owing to exeinption and otherwise, and the aggre- 
gate is over $300,000,000. The official assessments, 
commencing with 1864, were as follows: 



Yeak. 



1864.. 

1865.. 

1866. . 

1867.. 

1868.. 

1869. . 

1870.. 

1871.. 

1872. 

1873. 

1874. . 

1875.. 

1876.. 

1877.. 

1878.. 

1879.. 



City of 


City of 


St. Louis 


St. Louis Real 


Real Estate. 


and Personal. 


$53,205,820 


• $63,059 78 


73,960,700 


87,625,.534 


81,961,610 


105,245,210 


88,625,600 


112,907,660 


94,362,370 


116,582,140 


113,626,410 


138,523,480 


119,080,800 


147,969,660 


123,833,950 


158,272,4.30 


129,235,180 


162,689,570 


149,144,400 


180,278,950 


141,041,480 


172,109,270 


1.31,141,020 


166,999,660 


132,7a5,450 


166,441,110 


148,012,7.50 


181,345,560 


140,976,.540 


172,829,980 


136,071,670 


163,813,920 



The total tax rate on city property, last year, was 
two dollars and sixty cents on the one hundred dol- 
lars, which included State, city, and school taxes. 

THE GRAIN TRADE. 

The vast extent of fertile agricultural territory 
tributary to St. Louis made it a fixed fact, even at 
an early period in its history, that the city was 
destined to control a large grain trade. As the 
settlement and development of this and ad- 
joining States progressed, tlie possibilities of the 
grain trade became more apparent; but it is only 
within the last two or three years that the merchants 
have begun to realize the true proportions of this 
business. The removal of obstructions at the mouth 
of the Mississippi, by the completion of the jetties, 
has had an iijimense effect in stimulating the trade. 



60 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



The markets of Europe demand the surplus grain 
products of the great West, aud now that St. Louis 
possesses, via New Orleans, a free, unoljstructed 
water-way to the sea, it is rapidly becoming the 
central receiving and shipping point of these pro- 
ducts. The transfer of grain from St. Louis to New 
Orleans, in barges, and thence to Europe and other 
countries, is at present only in its iucipieAcy. That 
tlie growth of the trade during the next few years 
will assume an astonishing magnitude is certain, 
and as the superior facilities of this route, not only 
in greater safety but reduced cost and reduced loss 
in handling, are generally understood and appre- 
ciated, the receipts of grain at this city will im- 
mensely increase. The statistics given in the last 
oflacial report of the secretai-y of the Merchants' 
Exchange show how important the annual increase 
i£ at present. 

THE ST. LOUIS BREWERIES. 

The beer made in St. Louis is among the best, if 
not the best, manufactured in America, and large 
shipments are now annually made to many points 
In the old and new world. The expansion of the 
business during late years has been steady and 
rapid, and upon the most permanent basis. The 
production for the past three years was as follows : 

1877 471,232 barrels or 14,608,192 gallons. 

1878.... 521,684 " 16,172,204 

1879.... 613,667 " 19,023,677 

FLOUK. 

The manufacture of flour has for many years 
been an important branch of St. Louis industry, and 
is steadily increasing. Tlie j)roduct of the twenty- 
four mills operated last year, was 2,142,949 barrels, 
against 1,916,290 barrels for 1878, and 1,517,921 in 1877. 
Adding to this amount received and handled by 
jobbers, viz., 2,011,805 barrels, the total amount, 
handled by millers and jobl)ers during tlie year, of 
4,1.54,754 barrels is had, agjiinst 3,633,872 barrels in 
1878, and 2,938,328 barrels in 1877. The shipments 
aggregated 3,045,0:55 liarrels, of wljich equal to 
619,103 were shipped to Europe, principally in sacks, 
1,049,.504 barrels to the south, and shipments east, 
1,308,387 barrels. The growth of the flour business 
ia plainly illustrated by these figures, and it is 
almost quite certain that the same causes that are 
so rapidly extending tlie grain trade of St. Louis, 
will operate to increase manufacture in the future. 

COTTON. 

The fact that St. Louis is situated north of the 
cotton-producing region and further from the sea 
seemed, some years ago, as a natural obstacle to its 
becoming a great cotton market. The results 
achieved during the last few years, however, have 
shown that it is destined to ))ecome in the immedi- 
ate future the largest market and controling inland 
cotton center of the continent. The progress has 
been so rapid and so great as to constitute one of 
the most emphatic triumphs in commercial history, 
as the whole development has been effected in a pe- 
riod of less than ten years. The receipts during the 
cotton season of 1869-70 were less than for the year 
1866-67, and the true growth only commenced in the 



season of 1870-71. From that date up to the present 
the receipts, as given by authentic sources, were: 

1870-71 bales, 20,270 

1871-72 " 36,421 

1872-73 " 59,700 

1873-74 " 103,741 

1874-75 " 1.33,966 

1875-76 " 245,209 

1876-77.... " 217,734 

1877-78 " 246,314 

1878-79 " 335,799 

The cotton year commences September 1st. Re- 
ceipts from September 1, 1879, to February 27, 1880, 
were 430,752 bales, or about 100,000 more than for the 
whole last cotton year. Gross receipts this year are 
estimated at 500,000 bales. This, at ?65 per bale, rep- 
sents $.32,500,000. The value of 20,000 bales, which 
came to the city ten years ago, was about $1,300,000. 
This pleudid progress has been largely caused by 
the extensive and complete facilities provided in 
this city for the handling and shipping of cotton, and 
also to the wise and liberal si)irit of the railroads 
connecting St. Louis with the cotton States west of 
the Mississippi River. The cotton compress of the 
St. Louis Compress Company is the largest ever 
constructed, having a capacity for compressing be- 
tween 3,000 and 4,000 bales a day, with covered stor- 
age-room for 150,000 bales. This is undoubtedly a 
magnificent branch of trade, and contributes largely 
to the commercial wealth and enterprise. The ship- 
ments for the last two years were as follows: 

1877-78. 1878-79. 

To the East 226,129 317,269 

South 10,194 7,208 

North 3,923 1,072 

West 358 217 

Total bales 240,604 .325,766 

Large as the cotton business of St. Louis now is, 
there is every prospect of an extensive increase 
within the next three or four years, as cotton cul- 
ture is extended in the South and Southwest. 

THE IRON TRADE. 

That the inexhaustible deposits of iron ore in the 
State of Missouri and the abundance of the coal sup- 
ply should have led to exte'^isive furnaces, rolling 
mills, foundries, iron and steel works, of all kinds, in 
the citj' of St. Louis, is not surprising. An immense 
industry has been developed within a period of ten 
or fifteen years, and notwithstanding the general 
depression of the iron trade during the last few 
years, it is to-day one of the most important depart 
ments of manufacture. The iron business includes 
so many branches, viz.: The manufacture of pig 
iron and its conversion into bar iron, to steel, to 
castings, aud the making of articles of iron, such as 
engines, machinery, stoves, etc., all made from the 
original pig iron or bars, that it is diflicult, in the 
absence of oflicial statistics, to calculate the amount 
invested in tlie industry. The result of inquiries 
seems to show that I he amount of capital at present 
invested in the business in this city is nearly 
$8,700,000, and the value of production, in view of 
the i-ccent advance in prices, about $11,745,000. This 
includes boiler making, furnaces, rolling mills, 
machine shops, mill machinery, nuts and bolts, 
wire and wire goods, etc., and there is no doubt the 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



61 



aggregate stated is below the real volume of the 
trade. The present revival in iron manufacture 
and profitable prices will soon greatly increase the 
business in this city, o-\ving to its favorable situation 
for supplying all parts of the city and the boundless 
supplies of ore and coal. This one industry in itself 
possesses wonderful possibilities of development 
and of increasing the municipal wealth, because it 
is one that must expand with the increasing popu- 
lation and settlement of the country. It is a busi- 
ness that rests ui)on the basis of a great staple 
article of human use, one that is absolutely neces- 
eary in every step of commercial progress, and this 
unquestioned truth renders its extension in this 
city a matter of certainty. Within a distance of less 
than one hundred miles, and connected by railroads, 
exists abundance of tlie best kind of ore ; on all sides, 
and within a radius of thirty miles, are immeasur- 
able coal deposits, and these facts, in connection 
with the capital and the manufacturing and shipping 
facilities by river and rail available here, make it 
evident that the future extension of tlie trade mast 
be felt most immediately and powerfully at St. 
Louis. 

DRY GOODS. 

In the wholesale and retail branches of the dry 
goods trade, St. I^ouis does a large and increasing 
business. According to a careful estimate made by 
one of the large merchants, the amount of capital 
employed by the dry goods houses will reach $10,- 
000,000, and the amount of business annually $35,- 
000,000. During the last ten years the trade has 
doubled in the aggregate. The jobbers report that 
the greatest increase in their business is fi'om 
•outhwest Texas and Ai'kansas. Within the past 
five years many new houses have been added to the 
trade, and several beautiful and substantial build- 
ings have been erected for both the wholesale 
and retail business. During the present 8i)ring and 
the ensuing summer, it is expected' tliat the oper- 
ations of the trade will be larger than in any pra- 
Tiou» season. 

PBOVISIONS AND GROCERIES. 

The results of the packing seasons in St. Louis for 
1878-9 show 629,201 hogs, against 509,540 for preced- 
ing season, and the receipts of product 107,821,156 
pounds, against 76,070,805 pounds for 1878. The ex- 
ports last season were 220,891,273 pounds, against 
188,529,593 in 1878. The shipments direct to Europe 
were 7,53.5,947 pounds of meats, 1,431,841 pounds of 
hams, and 648,877 pounds of lard. The balance of the 
shipments were to the South, for congumjition, and 
to Eastern markets. There is only one other point 
in the United States that exceeds St. Louis in the 
I)ackiug business, and that is Chicago, and this ex- 
cess will probably be only temporary. 

The aggregate amount of sales by the wholesale 
grocery trade of St. Louis, during 1879, is estimated 
at .f22,000,000, embracing orders from nearly all im- 
portant points in the South and West. The year's 
operations were considerably in excess of the pre- 
vious yeai-s, and generally satisfactory in charac- 
ter. The receipts of coflfee in St. Louis are rapidly 
Increasing, and this coffee market is now one of the 
largest in the world. In 1879 there were received 
here 267,.533 bags, of 130 pounds eacli, and about 
oue-eiglith of I he entire last Rio crop. 



The sugar. trade of St. Louis has for many year* 
been of great importance, not only trom the amount 
of the capital employed in it, but on account of the 
extent of the refining operations. The receipts of 
refined sugar from the East in 1879, were 89,993 
barrels, 300 pounds each, and the product of the 
Belcher Refinery, for ten months, 193,000 barrels;, 
total trade in refined sugars, 283,000 barrels. Amount 
of raw sugar received for the year, was 65,225 hogs- 
heads, 1,100 pounds each, and 1,224 boxes and 595 
bags of West India sugar, the greater portion of 
which was used by the Belcher Refinery. 

In the numerous other branches of the provision 
and grocery trade, St. I^uis has an extensive and. 
increasing trade, 

LIVE STOCK, LUMBER, TOBACCO, SPIRITS^. 

In live stock, the receipts for three years were aa 
follows : 

Horses and 
Cattle. Sheep. Hogs. Mules. 

1879 420,6.54 182,648 1,762,724 32,289 

1S78 406,235 168,095 1,451,634 27,878 

1877 411,969 200,502 896,319 22,652 

The business done in lumber, during 1879, is indi- 
cated by the following figures : 



Lumljer, 


Shingles, 


Lath, 


Shipments (river feet. 


pieces. 


pieces. 


and rail) 161,953,000 


37,450,000 


16,300,000 


Local Consump- 






tion 130 857 551 


42,509,500 
79,959,500 


9,229,830 
25,529,830 


Total 301,810,551 



1878. 


1879. 


5,954,747 


8,642,688 


36,560 


35,042 


36,180 


41,180 



The total receipts of tobacco, for 1879, were 20,278 
hogsheads, including 3,8.50 hogsheads received by 
manufacturers from other markets, and balance of 
previous year's crop. The following statement 
shows tlie manufacturing operations in St. Louis, 
for three years : 

1877. 

Tobacco, lbs 5,448,522 

Cigars, M 33,920 

Snuflt, lbs 35,595 

The trade in highwines and whiskies is illustrated 
by the following figures : 

Bushels of grain mashed and 

distilled 614,514.59 

Spii-its produced, gallons 2,228,088.00 

Spirits rectified or compounded 

in 1st Dist. Mo., 1879, gallons. . 2,946,871.20 
Total No. gallons gauged in this 
Dist. l)y U. S. gaugers in 1879.. 10,(550,084.36 
In lead, wood and hides, hemp and bagging, all 
kinds of feed, and many other articles, a large and 
profitable business was transacted. 

THE RAILROAD FACILITIES. 

The establishment of a grand railroad center at 
the Union Depot was made a possibility by the 
building of the magnificent bridge over the Missis- 
sippi River, at the foot of Washington avenue. This 
structure, and the tunnel connecting it with the 
depot, forms one of the most remarkable engineer- 
ing achievements in the world, and has given to 
the city unequaled facilities for the management of 
i-ailroad traffic. It consolidates railroad business 
near the business center of tlie city, .and the trans- 
fer of passengers and freight is more convenient 



G2 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



ftnd expeditious and attended witli less cost than in 
any otlier city of (ho country. All the roads enter 
the Union Dejiot througli the tunnel, except three 
or four, so that llio great feature of a common rail- 
road center is obtained without any sacrifice of 
other interests. Tlio railroad lines centering at the 
depot are as follows: West roads— Missouri Tacillc, 
St. Louis & San Francisco, Wabash, St. Louis & 
i'acilic, Chicago, Alton & St. Louis, Missouri, Kansas 
& Texas, also a number i>f other roads, the starting 
poinf of which is west of St. Louis, but which may 
be said to connect with the Union Depot. South 
roads — St. Louis, li-on Mountain A: Southern, Mis- 
souri, Kansas & Texas, TJelleville & Southern 
Illinois, Xashville, Cliattanooga & St. Louis (St. 
I>ouis Division), Cairo & St. Louis. East roads — 
Ohio & Mississippi, St. Louis, Alton & Chicago, 
Indianapolis & St. l^ouis, St. Louis, Vandalia, Terre 
JIauto & Indianapolis, Wabasli, St. Louis & racilic, 
Illinois & St. Louis. North roads— Wabash, St. 
Louis & Paciflc (Iowa Division), ChicaL'o, liurling- 
ton & Quincy (St. Louis Division), St. Louis,^ Keokuk 
& Xortlnvcstorn. 

During the past two years the railroad system 
has been C(uisiderably extended, and to this fact 
must to a large extent be attributed tlie increased 
volume of business. The tonnage received by river 
and rail has been stated above. St. Louis is now one 
of the greatest inland railroad centers in the world, 
and this fact, taken in connection with the pouring 
of population into Texas and the territory west of 
the city, and the immense increase that may be 
expected in the agricultural and mineral production 
of this region, makes it certain that all branches of 
trade must be greatly enlarged in the immediate 
future. 

TIIK CITY AND ITS GOVERNMENT. 

A summary of the growth, trade and w^ealth of St. 
Louis would be incomplete without some particulars 
respecting the i>lan of the nninicipal government, 
the institutions established under it, and the im- 
pi-ovemcnts caiTied out for the purpose of increasing 
the attractions of the city as a place of residence, 
and the securing of social order and the best sani- 
tary conditions. 

Fi'om the date of the first incorporation of the 
town of St. Louis, in 1S09, np to three years ago, 
there had been many changes in character, provis- 
ions, and frequent extensions of the city limits. In 
1S2'2, tlie limits, as extended and defined, might be 
said to be embraced between Uutger and Hiddle 
streets, and Seventh street and the river, an area of 
less than one square mile, having a length north and 
south of not much more than a mile and a half, and 
a width of about half a mile. The last extension of 
the limits was made at the time of the adoption of 
the present charter, and llie city now embraces a 
territory of over sixty- two square miles in extent, 
or nearly forty thousand acres, with a length of sev- 
enteen miles from north to south, and six and five- 
eighths miles from east to west. The i-iver front is 
eighteen miles and a half, and the length of paved 
wharf three and one-third miles. Length of im- 
proved streets three hundred and fifteen miles, and 
of alleys forty-nine miles. It has nearly one hun- 
dred and twenty miles of street railways in operation. 
There are one hundred and ninety-live miles of sub- 
stantial sewers, foi-mingan admii'able sewer system, 



and one that is constantly being extended. The cost 
of the sewers has been $6,093,302, of which ?1,209,C34 
has been ex])ended for a single sewer, Mill Creek 
sewer, whicli runs through the old Mill Creek valley, 
in the center of the city. Incidental to the construc- 
tion of tlie sewers, it may be remarked that the 
death-i-ate has been greatly reduced as the system 
was extended. The last oflicial mortality statistics 
are elsewhere presented. 

Tlie present plan of the municipal government 
presents some new and interesting features. The 
existing charter was prepared under authority 
granted by tlie State Constitution in a special pro- 
vision relating to St. l..oiiis. i'ormerly the city was 
embraced in tlie county of St. Louis, and a county 
and a city government were botli administered 
within tlie municipal limits. The new^ Constitution 
authorized a separation of the municipal govern- 
ments, which had been congenilally united, and the 
work of preparing the scheme of separation and a 
charier for the <'ity was intrusted to a board of thir- 
teen freeholders, elected by the people for that 
pni-pose. The scheme and cliarier, when completed, 
were submitted to the people at a special election, 
held in 1876, and were adopted and went into opera- 
tion the ensuing year. Tlie sei)ar:itiiiu of the 
governments was efiecled without serious trouble, 
and a re-oi-ganizatiou took place under the new law. 
The city became wholly independent of county 
control, and is not included in any county of the 
State. It levies and collects its own revenue, and 
the Staterevenue within its limits, and manages and 
conducts its own affairs, free from all outside inter- 
ference and control except so far as the Constitution 
admits of action by tlic Legislature. The constant 
changes in the charter in past years exercised a 
detrimental eftect on the welfare of the city, and it 
was to prevent this evil that the new plan was 
devised. The present charter can be amended at 
intervals of two years by proposals therefor sub- 
mitted by the law-making authorities of the city to 
the qualified voters at a general or special election. 
Tlie Legislature may amend tlie charter, but only 
under the restrictions respecting special legislation, 
so that it is evident the municipal government rests 
upon a firm and permanent basis highly favorable 
to true prosperitv. 

The legislative power of the city is vested in a 
council and house of delegates, styled the Mu- 
nicipal Assembly. The council is composed of 
thirteen members, chosen on a general ticket by the 
voters of the city, and the house of delegates con- 
sists of one member from each of the twenty-eight 
Avards, elected by the voters in said ward. The 
mayor and heads of departments, including tlie 
president of the Board of Public Improvements, are 
elected by the people for a term of four years, and 
the balance of the more important officers are 
appointed by the mayor, -witli the approval of the 
council. The charter generally, though not free 
from mistakes, is much the best one the city has 
had, and under its operation a better execution of 
public work and a more economical system of 
expenditures have undoubtedly been secured. 

THE POLICE FORCE. 

The police force of the city numbers five hundred 
men, and requires for its maintenance about ?5o0,0t)0 
per annum. The police force is well drilled and is 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



63 



in a high state of eflSciency, but is hardly adequate 
for the patrol of the immense territory embraced in 
the city limits. However, the iirotection of life and 
property in this city, as indicated liy the official 
statistics of crime, is in every respect excellent. 
The city is divided into six i^olice districts, con- 
taining eleven station houses. The arrests for the 
last fiscal year were as follows: State cases (these 
cases embrace all serious crimes), 1,,4G0; city cases 
(violation of ordinance), 12,576. Value of stolen 
and lost money and other property returned to 
owners, through the instrumentality of tlie police 
force, during the year, .fl.51,442.15. 

There are also one regiment and one battalion of 
militia ready to respond to a call from the authori- 
ties in an emergency. 

HEALTH. 

The official mortality lists of St. Louis, when com- 
pared with other important cities of- the United 
States, forciljly illustrate the salubrity of the 
climate and the e,\<'ellent sanitary condition of the 
city. Of the fourteen largest cities St. Louis ranks 
lowest, the death-rate being twelve per 1,000 of in- 
habitants. 

ARCHITECTURAL GROWTH AND CHARAC- 
TERISTICS. 

The growth of St. Louis in building, during the 
last five or ten years, has been more steady and 
substantial than any city in the country. Even 
during the late period of commercial uncertainty 
and depression there was no pause in building 
operations, investments in real estate continuing 
to be made on the basis of confidence in the future 
of the city. A large number of important buildings 
for business purposes have been erected i-ecently, 
and the residence districts have grown more beauti- 
ful and extended each year. The leading charac- 
teristics of the architectural growth of the city is 
the solid and permanent nature of improvements. 
The city may tnily be said to be one of brick, stone 
and iron, reflecting, in the substantial character of 
its buildings, the prudent spirit and strong founda- 
tions of the commei'cial enterprise of the citizens. 
It is a city built to last, and to fitly i-Gpresent the 
wealth and industries of the Great West. The 
Menvhants' Exchange is undoubtedly the finest 
edifice of the kind in the United States, and the 
business buildings on Third, Fourth, Fifth and 
Sixth streets, and on Washington avenue and other 
intersecting thoroughfares, will compare favorably 
with the business architecture to be seen any- 
where. The Court House, the Four Courts and 
Jail, the Insurance building (Sixth and Locust), and 
the Lindell Hotel, are structures of which any city 
might be justly proud. The Southei-n Hotel is 
rapidly arising from the ashes of the conflagration 
that swept away the original edifice, and in a short 
time will add its completed beauty to the architec- 
tural attractions of the city. The new Custom 
House and I'ost-Office is approaching completion, 
and will be a splendid municipal feature. The 
tunnel, connecting the bridge with the Union Depot, 
runs in front of the eastern basement wall of the 
great building, affording new and peculiar facilities 
for the delivery of the mails to and from jjassing 
rains. Many of the most costly business houses and 



public buildings have been erected within the past 
decade, and-various additional architectural enter- 
prises are in i)rogres8 of execution — among them 
the St. Louis Art Museum and the Academy and 
Training School, in connection with tlie Washington 
University. 

The botanical garden, at Tower (irove Park, is also 
one of the features of the city, and during the past 
decade a number of handsome and costly stone 
churches have been erected in various parts of the 
city. , 

EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS.* 

The universities and public and private schools 
of St. Louis create an educational system unsur- 
passed in any city in the world, and equaled by 
few. It embraces even' element necessary to meet 
the wants of all classes of population, whatever 
may be their peculiar views, religious or social ; 
while our magnificent system of puljlic schools 
afford a sound educational course free of all ex- 
l)ense. It has been often remarked that this is a 
city of churches, and it certainly possesses very 
excellent accommodations in that line. Religious 
opinions of everj' shade are represented. 

PARKS. 

St. Louis possesses eighteen fine parks, costing 
?3,4:77,54;5.01 since their establishment; They are so 
distributed throughout the city as to exercise the 
most direct influence for the benefit of the citizens. 
Besides the parks within the municipal limits, there 
are four large driving parks open to the public. 

MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENTS. 

The charitable and correctional institutions of 
the city, which are in charge of a most efficient 
commissioner and board, are the City Hospital, 
costing to date $1.50,000; the Female Hosiiital, 
.?aO,000; Insane Asylum, $1,000,000; Poor- House, 
?40fJ,000; Quarantine Hospital, $70,000; House of Re- 
fuge, $.10,000; the jail (one of the largest and best 
arranged in the country) ; the Four-Courts, Court- 
House, and City Hall. The last named public 
edifices cost, approximately, $.5,000,000. 

THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. 
The city has organized a most complete fire de- 
partment for the protection of property. The 
twenty engine bouses represent a cost of $168,000; 
the twenty steam fire engines, hose carriages, etc., 
$1.'57,000, and the value of 128 horses, harness, furni- 
ture, wagons, etc., is $34,000— total, $.3.39,000. All the 
engines and apparatus are of the best modern 
pattern, and the force of men is efficient and well 
disciplined, and commahded by a chief of experience 
and ability. Tiiere is no cily in the countiy, of 
approximate size, with a better equiped fire de- 
l^artment. The best system of fire alarm telegraph 
is in operation, by which immediate notice of fire 
can be sent to the engine houses from the most 
distant residence districts. The cost of supporting 
the department is about $270,000 per annum, includ- 
ing the alarm system. 

THE WATER WORKS. 

The water supply of a great and growing city is 
always a matter of pressing and paramount impor- 
tance. In SI. Louis, an elaborate and costly system 



64 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



of water works has been constructed, by which a 
plentiful supply of wholesome water has been 
secured in all quarters of the city. The water is 
taken from the Mississippi River, some distance 
from the shore, and pumped into settling basins, at 
Bissell's Point. It is allo\^ed to stand in these 
basins until the sediment has settled, and it is then 
pumped into the main pipes leading to the city, and 
the surplus to Compton Hill lleservoir, in the south- 
western portion of the city. The distributing system 
of pipes is supplied from the stand-pipe on Gi'and 
Avenae and from the Compton Ilill Reservoir. 

According to the last official report' the eiuantity 
of water pumped into the city averaged 24,350,000 
United States gallons daily, and the cost of pumping 
one million gallons (both services) was $15.20, of 
Avhich $4.59 was for pumping at low service into set- 
tling basins, and .f 10.61 for pumping at high service 
into the city. Thv corft of these woi'ks was in the 
neighborhood- of .f(),000,000, and the operating ex- 
penses, as per last report, aggregated nearly $200,000 
for the year. At the time the works were con- 
structed, it was supposed their capacity of supply 
would be equal to the wants of the city for a long 
term of years ; but, so rapid has been the municipal 
growth, that already the necessity of extending 
them is becoming apparent. The water of the Mis- 
sissippi is agreeable to drink, fi-ee from impurities, 
and under the conditions which it is distributed by 
the present system, entirely healthful in character. 
Careful analyses, by competent chemists, have dem- 
onstrated this fact, and it is further corroborated by 
the remarkable salubrity of the city, as shown by 
the mortality reports presented above. During the 
prevalence of cholera, in 1866, the most severely 
alflicted localities Avere those where water taken 
from wells was used. It has also been frequently 
proved that Mississippi water, when confined in 
casks, will preserve its freshness and purity longer 
than any other known in thq country, and, owinato 
this fact, is particularly desirable for ship use. 

THE ST. LOUIS FAIR ASSOCIATION. 

The St. Louis Fair Association is not only one of 
the most attractive institutions of the city, but it 
has also been one of the most important factors in 
the development of the agricultural and various 
other resources of the State. During the twenty- 
five years of its existence it has enlarged beyond 
the most sanguine expectations of its founders, and 
at the i)resent time enjoys a national reputation. 
The Fair Association now possesses eighty-three 
and fifty-six one hundredth acres of land, costing 
over $100,000 ; it is eligibly located witliin the city 
limits, and easy of access from all quarters. The 
money spent on improvements since 1856 amounts to 



$1,000,000. The new amphitheatre, erected in 1870, 
has a seating capacity of 60,000, and is unequaled in 
construction and proportions. 

The capital slock of the association is $82,000, and 
is divided among 1,0.')7 individual holders, so that it 
cannot be classed as a close corporation, and the 
wise policy of investing the large annual income 
in new attractions is thus assured, and the like- 
lihood of the " Great Fair " becoming a mere money- 
making scheme reduced to a minimum. This plan 
has resulted in the construction of the most com- 
modious and admirably arranged permanent build- 
ings to be found in any park or fair grounds in the 
United States, every class of exhibition being located 
in a separate and distinct hall or enclosure, espe- 
cially adapted to the purpose for which it is intended. 
In addition, there has been added a Zoological 
Garden, which is constantly increasing in size and 
attractiveness, each passing year witnessing the 
erection of new and expensive buildings to accom- 
modate immigrants of the animal kingdom. The 
grounds are kept in admirable condition during the 
entire year, and the spacious drives make it one of 
the i)opular resorts of the city, even when not 
occupied by tlie annual fair which occurs in October, 
lasting six days. The premium list of the Fair As- 
sociation Ji'is always been generous, and is con- 
stantly increasing, and the lively competition thus 
created, has raised the standard of stock and pro- 
ductions of all kinds, not onl)^ in the State of Mis- 
souri, but throughout the entii'e Mississippi Valley, 
and has excited the ambition to excel among all 
classes of the industrial and commercial world. 
The importance of State fairs in educating the 
farmer, stock -raiser, and manufacturer cannot be 
over-estiijiated, and the State of Missouri owes 
much to the energy and enterprise of the managers 
of this Association. 

The attendance at the Fair Grounds during fair 
week averages 40,000 daily, and $50,000 are distributed 
in pi'emiums. 

FUTURE PROSPECTS OF ST. LOUIS. 
In all important elements of wealth, in population 
and in volume of business and commercial enter- 
Xjrises of all kinds, the city is rapidly and constantly 
increasing. This civic gi-owth, as shown, does not 
spring from local or sectional causes — it is part of 
the great movement of the State, of the West and 
South, in the path of progress. The city is advanc- 
ing, togethei'witli the boundless country of which it 
is the representative, and the future of both in- 
volves, at no distant day, not only a commercial and 
political supremacy within the limits of the Union, 
but one whose influence must be felt throughout 
the world. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



65 



Kansas City. 



When, in the year 1821, Francois, son of Pierre 
Chouteau, of St. Louis, accompanied by thirty 
French colonists, pitched his tent in the great 
angle of the Missouri River at the Kaw's mouth, he 
placed the keystone in the arch that was to open the 
grandest vista ever yet presented to the American 
people— the gateway at the center of the continent 
through which, ere half a century should elapse, the 
grand tide of commerce from East to West must 
pass — the open sesame to homes elysian and of 
untold wealth, not only in mineral and agricultural 
resources, but in industries and enterprises suffi- 
cient to engage the ambition of millions of people. 
And a few years later, when Thomas II. Benton 
stood upon the chalky cliffs, of what is now known 
as Randolith Station, pointing Avith prophetic finger 
to the little French nestling at the foot of the 
hills beyond, now West Kansas City, exclaiming, 
" There lies the greatest commercial center west of 
the city of St. Louis ! " he uttered one of those un- 
erring and foreshadowing truths for which, as a 
gifted statesman, he was justly celebrated. 

EUAS OF PROGRESS. 

Kansas City is nota place of mushroom growth. It 
has not sprung up, as it were, in a night, nor has it 
come into existence as if by magic. It has had dis- 
tant eras, and each era has been strongly marked by 
a progress and advancement almost without parallel 
in the history of the land. Thus, the pioneer settle- 
ment is found in 1820, already wonderful in its de- 
velopment as an Indian ti'ading post, commanding a 
traffic that Avas attracting the covetous eyes of many 
Americans, who doubted their ability to compete 
with the experienced tactics of the French in dealing 
with the red man. Nor Avere they in their arcadian 
mode of life free from the vicissitudes of fortune — 
for, in this year, there came a flood that completely 
washed out every A^estige of the trading village, 
which, in the end, proved providential, for then com- 
menced the hegira to the hills adjacent, and, Avith a 
better class of citizens, began to dawn the era of 
better dwellings and greater increase of trade. In- 
1828 the first land office Avas opened — a land office in 
the midst of a dense Avilderness, Avhose undergroAvth 
was the secure covert of the deer, the wild cat, and 
the Avolf; the log cabins and the little clearings 
Avere few and far betAveen, and tlie midnight bowl- 
ings Avere as dreary as the stealthy tread of the un- 
civilized Indian, Avho, even iu his friendliness, is not 
always the most agreeable or cheerful of com- 
panions. But, in the first year of the second de- 
cade, 1830, the great American Fur Company Avas 
organized by tAvo brothers, William and Milton Sub- 
lett, and Robert Campbell, of St. Louis, a gentleman 
Avho iinderstood Avell, from experience and practical 
obserA-ation, the commanding and promising posi- 
tion of this beud in the river, Avhich had been seem- 
ingly for ages the rendezvous and favorite haunt of 
many of the most noted tribes of Western Indians. 
Other settlements soon sprung into existence, one, 
tAvelve miles east, Independence; another, four 
miles south, on the county line, and named AVest- 



port, as being the extreme trading and outfitting 
Ijoint Avithin the pale of civilization — a place whose 
increase in trade became so vigorous, for several 
years, as to outstrip its neighbor at the bank of the 
river — the infant city humbly thriving under tlie 
title of Westport Landing. In 1834, Messrs. Bent 
and St. Vrain landed a cargo of goods at Chouteau's 
trading-house for Santa Fe, Xew Mexico, which 
marks not only the era of the great Santa Fe trade, 
but points the second important event toAvard the 
development of thegate city to the New West. 
This constanth' 

INCREASING TRADE 

constituted for many years the chief resource to 
prosperity, and thus history states that " in the year 
18.57, six hundred Santa Fe wagons took their de- 
parture for the plains." In 1849 Kansas City was 
found to be the best landing place for California 
immigration, which not only increased the impetus 
of trade, but was a means of extensively advertising 
tlie rapidly growing village, Avhich had not yet be- 
come ambitious enough to organize a toAvn corpora- 
tion. The first charter was procured in the Avinter 
of 1852-3, and in the spring of 1853 was organized the 
first municipal government. The first established 
newspaper made its appearance in 1854, Avith the 
title of the " Kansas City Enterprise," now knoAvn 
as the "Kansas City Journal." During the years 
18,55-0-7, the border troubles very Adsibly affected the 
prosperity of the city, so that business in the above 
named years did not exceed, all told, the sum of 
.f2,000,000; but at the close of the struggle, in 1857, 
business began to revive, and it Avas then stated, in 
the files of the St. Louis "Intelligencer," that she 
had the largest trade of any city of her size in the 
Avorld. This may be distinguished as the gi-eat 
steamboat era. It Avas estimated that, in the year 
1857, some one hundred and twenty-five boats dis- 
charged at the Kansas Citj' levee over twenty-five 
million pouflds of merchandise. In May of this 
year, also, the steamboats were employed to carry 
the United States mail, and in 1858 the first telegraph 
pole in Jackson County Avas erected. 
The matter of 

IMPROVED STREETS AND ItOADS 

has always been, and still is, a great unsolA^ed prob- 
lem ; though niuch labor and large amounts of money 
haA'e been expended, there is still much to do that 
Avill puzzle the brain of the civil engineer, and to 
gladden the heart of the ambitious contractor. As 
to roads, Kansas City had formidable competitors 
in the neighboring cities of Leavenworth, Lawrence, 
Atchison, St. Joseph, Independence, Westport, and 
even so far aAvay as the city of Boonville. 

Eighteen hundred and fifty-seven was an impor- 
tant period in the history of the city. At thatt time 
all there Avas of it Avere a few warehouses, overlook- 
ing the river; a iew outfitting stores, a court house, 
one or two public hostelries, a printing office, Avagon 
shops and sraithys, and dwellings perched about on 
the sides and summit of the surrounding hills ; one 



66 



Hand-Book or Missouri. 



serpentine liighway, ending at the river, in places 
scarce wide enoug-li for a single wagou and team, 
and winding through the forest and broken country, 
untU it came into view of the town of Westport, and 
lost itself in the waving gl-asses of the high prairies 
beyond. Here and there excavations had been 
made into, and biisiness houses erected. In a grove 
on a western hill, the Reverend Father Bernard 
Donnelly had erected a sylvan church, made of logs, 
in which God was worshiped according to the rites 
of the Catholic Church. 

But, at this time, a change had come over the 
vigorous little city— in modern phraseology, it was 
passing through its first bo^ii. 

BUSINESS OF 1857. 

Houses were being built in every direction, renting 
before completion in many instances for more per 
annum than their original cost. Mechanics were in 
great demand, and several new additions laid out 
and sold for building lots. In August of this year, 
1857, the " Journal " published a statement of the 
progress, from May 1 to August 23, as follows: 

VALUE OF KEAL, ESTATE:. 

May 1. Aug. 23. 

Levee lots each $250 ? 400 

Other city lots '■■■ 500 1,100 

Addition on the avenue 500 900 

Addition on other streets. . 250 500 

WAGONS LOADED FOB THE PLAINS, FKOM 

May 1 to August 23 13,440 

Men employed in loading, etc 20,160 

Animals employed 36,960 

Pounds of freight 40,976,000 

RECEIVED FKOM THE PLAINS: 

Buffalo robes 27,000 

Hides, pounds 131,000 

Pelts, pounds lf>,000 

Wool and furs, pounds (value, 

$19,000) 40,000 

MBRCANTILB BUSINESS FOR CITY PROPERTY: 

For that time .•$1,075,000 

Addition 50,000 

POPULATION AND TAXABLE WEALTH: 

Population. Assessment. 

1855 478 54,000 

1857 2,224 1,200,000 

The first bank established in Kansas City was a 
branch of the Mechanics' Bank, of St. Louis, organ- 
ized May 1, 1859, and the second was a branch of the 
Union Bank, organized in July of the same year. 
The first jobbing dry goods house opened in .July, 
1857. The first city loan for local improvements was 
made in 1855, amounting to $10,000, all taken at home, 
and expended in improving and widening the levee; 
and, in 1858, another loan of $100,000 for street im- 
provements. Only in the matter of railroads was 
Kansas City seriously affected by the panic of 1857; 
Government moneys, Immigration over the Ijorder, 
and the New Mexican trade tiding her safely over 
the sea of financial excitement and prostration. She 
had also become, even as early as the year 18.'>4, a 
noted mart for the purchase and sale of live stock, 



the immense freighting across the plains inviting 
trade in this direction, and in the annual reviews of 
the papers it is said that, in 1857, the receipts for 
that year, in mules and cattle, were estimated at 
$200,000, and also that, in 1858, about 20,000 head of 
stock cattle were driven here from Texas and the 
Indian Territory ; but Kansas City was not then a 
market for that kind of stock, and in the absence of 
railroads could not be for some time to come — hence, 
tliey were driven across the river, on, in the dii-ec- 
tiou of Chicago ; and it was estimated that near 70-, 
000 head crossed over by Kandolph Ferry, and in the 
month of June near 4,000 head going the other way, 
from Iowa to California. These facts, more than 
any other, pointed the great and grooving need for 
railroads, and made itself more than ever manifest.- 
Meetings were held, 

THE SUBJECT OF RAILROADS AGITATED, 

and the feasibility of constructing, or making an 
effort to construct, one or more that were most 
needed. True, as early as 1855, a bill had passed 
the Legislature incorporating the Kansas City, Han- 
nibal and St. Joseph Railroad Company, and the 
discussion of this project started the agitation in all 
the towns of "Western Missouri, and the first Legis- 
lature of Kansas chartered the Kansas Valley Road, 
from Kansas City to Fort Riley. Then, there were 
the Kansas City and St. Joseph Railroad, the St. 
Joseph and Burlington, the Kansas City and Canl- 
eron, a road to Galveston Bay, one to Napoleon, 
another to Fort Smith, Arkansas, etc ; people 
went wild with railroad fevers, and, like tlie 
fires of liberty, they burnt in the veins of all classes 
alike. 

But the growth and interests of the stalwart young^ 
city, its aspirations and energies, its ambitions and 
prosperity, were doomed to receive 

A SEVERE CHECK, 

in the breaking out of an internecine war, and 
commerce and traflic and progress succumbed 
to war's alarms and war's demands — altliough 
faith in her brilliant future remained unshaken in 
the hearts of her people, although she could not 
retrograde, save in tempoi-ary loss of jjopulation. 
The winter of 1860-1, therefore, found the city in the 
midst of a phenomenal prosperity, with the largest 
local trade on the Western border, aud command- 
ing the lion's share of trade with Colorado, and the 
whole of that with New Mexico — the great North- 
west, tributary to this section, was unfolding its 
riches and treasures, like tlie splendor of a western 
sun through rifting clouds, tributary yet subject; 
for, in fact, from her very infancy, the test of lier 
strength has been the ease and facility, from nat- 
ural causes, with which she obtains and retains 
monopolies in commerce and trade. 

At this time, also, two railroads had approached 
completion, the Missouri Pacific and tlie Cameron 
branch from Hanniljal & St. Joe, and, in 1862, Con- 
gress passed the Union Pacific Railroad bill, pro- 
viding for one main line from Kansas City, with a 
branch to St. Joe, by way of Atchison; one to 
Omaha, one to Sioux City, and authorized the 
Leavenworth, Pawnee A Western Railway Company 
to construct a line from that city to intersect the main 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



67 



line, and thus began that network of railways, 
crossing and re-ci-ossiug each other, at what is now 
known as West Kansas City. 

Passing over the most eventful years of the war, 
the most 

INTERESTING AND IMPORTANT 

era of the city's history is reached. With the re- 
opening of the Chamber of Commerce and the com- 
pletion of railroads already in course of Construc- 
tion, together with the combined efforts of many of 
her leading citizens in self-supporting enterprises, 
and in regarding strictly the laws of political econ- 
omy, and in her natural facilities that could not be 
hidden from the world, Kansas City had at last at- 
tracted Ihe attention of Eastern capitalists, and then 
began in her liistory the great and crowning era of 
progress, of the building of the first bridge that spans 
the Missouri Kiver, of the building of railroads, of 
a grand system of public education, of banks and 
banking institutions, of printing offices and pub- 
lishing houses, of street railways, of gas works, of 
substantial and elegant public and private build- 
ings, of the grading and improving streets and 
roads, of civil engineering, leveling hills and filling 
hollows, of waterworks, of libraries, of the Board 
of Trade, of the markets and packing-houses, of 
the grain and cattle trade and elevators; to enum- 
erate the history of all these and to tell how, from 
natural causes, she has outstripped her rivals, 
would be to fill a volume. A concise statement as 
maybe of what she is to-daj'will complete satis- 
factorily what, of necessity, must be an imperfect 
report. 

COMPARATIVE STATISTICS. 

The population of Kansas City in ISC'! numbered 
from five to six thousand; in ISSO, from flfty-flve to 
sixty thousand. This mar be considered a very 
moderate statement, the estimate by the Secretary 
of the Board of Trade being that in July, 1879, the 
population stood 60,372, an increase of twenty per 
cent, over the previous year. 

IX FINANCE. 

The clearings for 1878 were f 41,000,317 56 

Clearings for 1879 6S,2S0,2;)1 55 

BONDED AND FLOATING DKBT. 

1872 ?l,4:i0,217 52 

1880, April 1 1,394,049 29 

ASSESSED VALUATION OF REAL AND PERSONAL 
PROPERTY. 

Tor 1879 .'F10,60(5,660 00 

Tor 1880, April 1 13.500,000 00 

TRANSFERS OF REAL ESTATE. 

1878 ?1,660,722 00 

1879 5,447,900 00 

The transfers in real estate since January 1, 1880, 
have increased at least fifty per cent, over the past 
year, one corner lot on Main street of 100 feet having 
sold for ?75,000 cash in hand. 

INTERNAL REVENUE PAID TO THE GOVERNMENT. 

For 1878 ?60,115 65 

¥orl879 80,680 56 



POST-OFFICE RECEIPTS FROM GENERAL BUSINESS. 

Salea of stamps, box rent, etc., 

1878 $ 77,241 53 

Sales of stamps, box rent, etc., 

1879 98,948 04 

Net profits of the oflice, 1878 51,178 63 

Net profits of the office, 1879 69,425 82 

Nuniljer of money orders issued, 

1878 12.317 00 

Number of money orders issued, 

1879 #14 ,532 00 

Amount received for the same, 

1878 183,406 00 

Amount received for the same, 

1879 208,029 59 

Number of money orders paid, 

■ 1878 .35,167 00 

As to the city finances, her bonds sell readily at 
1 1-2 per cent, premium, for twenty years, at 6 per 
cent.j the interest upon the bonded debt being amply 
provided for by annual taxation, and at all times 
regulai-ly and x^romptly paid. 

THE GRAIN TRADE. 

The elevator capacity of Kansas City for storage 
and transfer, with names, is as follows : 

Storage. D. T. Cap. 

Union bushels 500,000 100,000 

ArkansasValley, bushels 400,000 125,000 

Kansas City bushels 250,000 25,000 

"A" bushels 125,000 30,000 

Advance bushels 45,000 15,000 

Alton bushels 175,000 2.50,000 



Total 1,495,000 



.545,000 



TOTAL RECEIPTS OF WHEAT. 

1877 bushels 2,259,572 

1S78 bushels 9,014,291 

1879 bushels 6,417,952 

TOTAL RECEIPTS OF CORN. 

1877 bushels 5,881,703 

1878 bushels 4,911,529 

1879 bushels 4,121,904 

BEEF AND PORK PACKING. 

Number of cattle and Irogs packed in Kansas City: 
CatUe. Hogs. 

1878 18,756 349,097 

1879 29,141 ;^66,8.30 

The average amount of slaughter per diem, at *he 
largest packing-house now in operation in this sec- 
tion, aggregates: Hogs, 5,000; cattle, 1,500. 

MINERALS. 

The transactions in this department, for the year 
1879, were as follows : 

Tons of coal received 212,288 

Pounds of zinc received 16,480,780 

Pounds of pig lead received 16,390,026 

Pounds of ore .53,688,830 

The shipments in this department were : 

Tons of coal 129,0i»l 

Pounds of zinc 15,931,793 

Pounds of pig lead 32,.371,059 

Pounds of ore 55,709,497 



68 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



WHOLESALE TRADE. 

The wholesale trade iai Kansas City, for the year 
1879, in the following departments, aggi-egate, as 
follows : 

Groceries ^0,000,000 

Agricultural implements 5,000,000 

Dry goods 4,000,009 

Drugs 1,000,000 

Tobacco 900,000 

In the wholesale grocery business Kansas City can 
boast of having several houses that would do credit 
to any city of thrice her wealth and population. 

PASSENGER TRAVEL. 

The number of people who pass through the city 
over her railroads, daily and monthly, is surprising 
even to her own citizens. In the month of March, 
1S80, not less than 60,000 persons having landed at, 
or passed through the city. In that month alone 
30,000 pieces of baggage were handled at the Union 
Depot, not including grip sacks and hand trunks, 
constituting the chief baggage of many passengers. 

WAGES. 

The following are about the prices paid to em- 
ployes in Kansas City: 

Book-keepers per month $40 to $150 

Barkeepers do 40 to 75 

Teamsters per day $1 to $1 50 

Laborers " i 50 

Plasterers " $2 00 to $2 50 

Painters... " 2 00 to 2 25 

Carpenters " 2 00 to 2 50 

Bricklayers , " 2 50 to 3 00 

Stonemasons " 2 50 to 3 50 

Dry goods clerks per week $10 00 to 12 00 

Clothing house clerks. . . " 10 00 to 12 00 

Groceiy clerks " 10 00 to 12 00 

Drug clerks per month $40 to $75 

TAXATION. 
In this city, the State, county, city and school tax, 
all together, is raised by a total levy of about 
$4.10 on the hundred dollars. This year the levy is 
estimated as follows : 

City 2 1-4 c 

School 4 mills 

School special 2 mills 

County levy 31-2 mills 

State 3 mills 

This would make the total levy 3.483 1-3 cents on 
the doUar. 

MANUFACTURES. 

Of the standard industries of Kansas Cily, tliat 01 
the agricultural implement and vehicle ti-ade stands 
at the head of the list. This great industry of itself 
is a test of what Kansas City is, and is yet to be. At 
every annual Industrial Exposition for the past 
eleven years, the magnitude of this great and still 
increasing business, is a subject of vast interest to 
thousands of visitors. Acres of the latest and most 
approved inventions may there be seen, and it is 
claimed that no other city in America can approxi- 
mate the display given in this one branch of trade 
and manufacture alone. 

Of the other manufactories and industries, there 
are the rolling mills, the foundries, the oil mills, the 



planing mills, the furniture factories, the white lead' 
factory, the wagon and carriage factoiy, and many 
more that time and space forbid to enumerate. 
These industries are all being successfully carried, 
on, giving employment to large nmnbers of skilled 
laborers, and requiring the expenditure of vast sums 
of money in the erection of suitable buildings and in 
the purchase of machinery, find all modern appli- 
ances for economic and skillful work in the several 
departments of business. 

The manufacturing interests of Kansas City should 
not be considered so much with reference to enter- 
prises already established, as to the capabilities and 
probabilities of the future. To illustrate this may 
be cited the milling interest, now in its infancy. 
The Kansas City market commands the best winter 
wheat grown in the world, at a cost of from ten to 
flfleen cents per bushel less than it can be pur- 
chased in any other market. The supply is unlim- 
ited, and there is a demand for the product in the 
South and West, and it can be shipped from Kansas 
City to the marts of sale as cheap as from St. Louis 
or any other manufacturing city. She has both fuel 
and water in abundance, and at rates as cheap as 
any other city in the West. These facts are appli- 
cable to all other kindred industries. 

Kansas City will be in the future second to no 
other city in the Union for the magnitude and profit 
in its manufacture of iron. Iron ore of the best 
quality— the red hematite— in inexhaustible quanti- 
ties, is found within one hundred miles of Kansas 
City, and can be profitably manufactured here. The 
same may be said of sheet lead and lead pipes, as 
well as the manufacture of white lead. 

RAILROADS AND TRANSPORTATION. 

The transportation facilities of Kansas City, and 
the magnificent array of railroads terminating there, 
and tributary thereto, are worthy of detailed men- 
tion : 

The Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, the Kansas 
Pacific Railroad, tlie Kansas City, Lawrence & South- 
ern Railroad, the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Rail- 
road, the Chicago & Alton Railroad, the Atchison & 
Nebraska Railroad, the Kansas City, St. Joseph & 
Council Bluffs Railroad, the Missouri Pacific Rail- 
way, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, the 
Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway, the Atchison, 
Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, the Kansas City & East- 
ern Railroad (narrow gauge). Kansas City is also 
interested in the construction of the following new 
lines, and branches of roads, some of which are now 
in process of completion, and, when constructed, will 
add new and increased facilities to her growing com- 
merce aud trade: 

These are the Kansas City, Burlington & Santa Fe 
Railroad, to be extended from Burlington to Wichita, 
in Kansas. 

An extension of the Kansas City, Lawrence & 
Soiithern Railroad, iroin Independence, Kansas, 
westward througli the southern counties of tlie 
State, seventy-five miles of which have been already • 
constructed. 

Tlie Kansas City & Southern Railroad (the old 
Memphis road) has been recently purcliased by Bos- 
ton capitalists, and is being built from Kansas City 
to Osceola, with a branch to the coal fields of Bates 
County. Sixty miles of steel raUs for this road have 
ab-eady beeu purchased. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



69 



TliBre is also a line of railroad soon to l>e con- 
structed from Pleasant Hill, Cass County, Missouri, 
by way of Rich Hill, in Bates County, via Nevada, in 
Vernon County, Jay Gould furnishing the money for 
this entei"prise; liis object being to obtain a perma- 
nent supply of coal for his other railroads in the 
West. » 

The Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad will soon con- 
struct a branch fi-om some point on its line, south 
of Kansas City, to the coal fields of Bates County. 
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad has, 
within the past few days, extended its road to 
Albuquerque, New Mexico, and thence will con- 
struct three branches — one to Guyamas, on the 
Pacific coast; one to San Francisco, and one to the 
City of Mexico. 

The freights that these completed roads carry, 
the following comparative statement will show: 
Freights received in Kansas 

City, 1878 2,42.5,904,917 lbs. 

Freights received in Kansas 

City, 1879 9,789,471,508 lbs. 

Shipments from Kansas City, 

1878 2,038,366,446 lbs. 

Shipments from Kansas City, 
1879 7,908^62,344 lbs. 

This statement includes the freight of the Kansas 
City, Lawrence & Southern, and Missouri, Kansas & 
Texas, to Olathe and Fort Scott. 

NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS. 

There are two dailj^ morning newspapers of eight 
pages, six columns each, with constantly increasing 
circulation, issuing numbers every Sunday morning, 
of twelve and sixteen pages. These are: The 
Kansas City Journal (daily and weekly) ; the Kansas 
City Times (daily and weekly) ; the Kansas City 
Mail (evening daily and weekly) ; the Post and 
Tribune (German daily) ; the Wcstliche Volkszei- 
tung (German weekly) ; the Herald des Westens 
(German) ; the Kansas City Price Cui-rent, the Daily 
Live Stock Report, the Merchants' Exchange Daily 
Indicator, the Commercial Indicator, the Daily 
Pioneer, the Western Sentinel, the Kansas Pilot, 
the Western Review of Science and Industry, the 
Catholic Tribune, the Catholic Banner, the Saturday 
Evening Herald, Continent Pi-esbyterian, and Stock 
Farm Home Weekly. 

These institutions exhibit every indication of 
great prosperity and success, many of them being 
conducted with as much ability and talent as any 
publications in the land. 

EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES. 

The valuation of public school 
property in Kansas City ap- 
proximates $ 175,000.00 

Number of children between 
school ages 15,275.00 

Showing an increase in 1879 of 4,000.00 

Number of teachers employed in • 

i879 75 

Number of teachers required an- 
other terjn 85 

Teachers' salaries from $40 to |140 per month. 



Spalding's Commercial College, College of Physi- 
cians and Surgeons, Kansas City Academy of 
Science, Kansas City Medical Society, St. Teresa'a 
Academy. 

THE OTHER PROMINENT INSTITUTIONS 

of Kansas City are her Board of Trade, with a mem- 
bership of 201; a Fire Department, a Waterworks 
Company, aBoard of Health, a Board of Police Com- 
missioners, a Board of Education ; hosi>itals, 3 ; cem- 
eteries, 3; express companies, 3; churches, 34; tele- 
phone companies, 2; banks, 5 ; telegraph companies, 
3; street railways, 4; public schools, 10; academies 
and colleges, 5; libraries, 2; secret societies, 5; 
benevolent societies, 12; building associations, 4; 
incorporated companies and miscellaneous socie- 
ties, 25. 

The courts of Kansas City are : The Circuit Court, 
Special Law and Equit.y Court, Criminal Court, 
Probate Court, United States Circuit Court, and 
Recorder's Court. 

2T7BLIC BUILDINGS. 

The wonderful growth of Kansas City can in no 
way be more truthfully exemplified than in noting 
the number and character of her buildings, both 
public and private, erected during the year 1879. 
There have been completed not less than sixteen 
hundred within that time, at an aggregate cost of 
one million five hundred thousand dollars ; and it is 
confidently believed that the year 1880 mil witness 
a growth far in excess of any yet known in her past 
history. 

The most important public structure now in pro- 
cess of building, is the United States post-office and 
custom-house, an appropriation of $200,000 having 
been made bv the General Government to be expen- 
ded in its erection. 

The stock yards of Kansas City may be mentioned 
as ranking with the largest and most perfect in the 
country, possessing a stock exchange building, 
which, for convenience and beauty of structure, is 
without a rival. The traveling public need not be 
told of the magnificent Union Depot building, 
costing not less than $300,000, which, in style of 
architecture and unique arrangements, is not sur- 
passed by any building of its kind either east oi 
west. 

BANKING MATTERS. 

The banking capital of Kansas City, while not as 
large as the business interests of the city warrant, 
is stLU sufficient to meet the pi-csent demands of 
trade, there being invested at tliis time about one 
million dollars in banks commanding the confi- 
dence of the capitalists and small depositors. 

The daily deposits of one of the largest banks a» 
the present time is about $175,000. 

Fi-om an examination of a statement of the per- 
centage of increase of clearings for the year 1879, in 
all the cleai-ing houses of the cities east of the Rocky 
Mountains, it will be seen that, while the valuee 
of business have been increased generally, the 
increase has been the largest and most significant 
at Kansas City, it being sixty -eight and eight tenths. 

The building contemplated during the year 1880 
will require the manufacture of at least 40,000,000 
bricks, and it is believed that the yards now in 
operation will meet this demand. 



70 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



KANSAS CITY OF TO-DAY. 

An idea of what Kansas City is to-day may be seen 
from the above statements. The climate is pure, 
and good, and high, and healthy. The educational 
corps will bear comparison with that of any other 
city of onr laud. Society numbers hundreds and 
thousands of the best and most tlioroughly educated 



of this country and Europe. No stranger may feel 
at loss for association. Through proper and 
legitimate channels, there are society and friendship 
and hospitality for all. There is land enough and 
room enough. Each day develops new enterprises 
and new industries, thus furnishing business enough 
for all wh(3 have the energy, capacity and ability to 
seek for it. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



71 



St. Joseph. 



St. Joseph is situated on the east bank of the Mis- 
souri, 520 miles from its mouth, 2,000 miles from the 
great falls, nearly 1,300 miles below the mouth of 
the Yellowstone, 250 miles west of St. Louis, with 
which it is connected by three different lines of 
railroad, and 180 miles on an air line fi-om the 
Mississippi Kiver. The latitude of St. Joseph is 39° 
47' north, and the same parallel passes through In- 
dianapolis, and within less than four miles of Den- 
ver, Colorado, Springfield, Illinois, and the famous 
Mason and Dixon's line, separating Maryland and 
Pennsylvania, reaching the Atlantic coast half way 
from Cape May to New York City, and the Pacific, 
two degrees north of San Francisco, near Cape Men- 
dicino. It runs about seven miles south of Colum- 
bus, Ohio ; eleven south of Philadelphia, and from 
forty to fifty miles north of Cincinnati, Washington 
and Baltimore. 

St. Joseph is in longitude 94° 55' west, and is the 
most 

WESTERN CITY OF MISSOURI. 

Its meridian passes through Galveston on the 
south, and Lake Starka on the north. Situ- 
ated mid-way and on an air lino between the 
Lake of the Woods and Galv«8ton Bay, Cape 
Cod and Los Angelos, the mouth of the Yel- 
lowstone and Mobile Bay, and on a straight line 
frgm St. Louis to Cheyenne, from Chicago to Santa 
Fe, and from St. Paul and Duluth to San Antonio, in 
Texas, it is more centrally and advantageously sit- 
uated than any other important city in the country. 
It is a half-way point between the two oceans, on 
the great highway between the Occident and 
the Orient, the natural distributing point for hall 
the continent, and the most eligible location for 
the great city which it is rapidly, becoming, of any 
place between the Mississippi River and the Pacific 
coast. 

bird's-eye view. 

St. Joseph has an altitude of about 1,030 feet above 
the sea, which is 200 feet higher than St. Paul, 400 
feet higher than Chicago, and nearly 600 feet higher 
than St. Louis. The city is romantically and beauti- 
fully situated, the business portion lying in a huge 
basin on a great bend in the Missouri River, while 
the residence part of the city clambers up the mound- 
shaped hUls, which rise on all sides like a vast am- 
phitheatre. Magnificent building sites on these 
hills have been secured, and elegant mansions 
crown the summits in all directions. It will be read- 
ily perceived that the founder of this city, Joseph 
Robidoux, a man of great sagacity, chose tlus loca- 
tion with reference to its future. ^He already knew 
that it was the great gateway to the northwest, if he 
did not realize that it was in the direct high- 
way of Lnter-oceanio and international commerce. 
From four to five thousand miles of navigable 
waters concentrate in the Jlissouri, above this city, 
and soutkward ii^ water commuiuoatioju ie open to 
the sea. 



HISTORY AND POPULATION, 

It is three quarters of a century since Joseph 
Robidoux built the first cabin, at the foot of Black- 
snake Hills, and making it an Indian trading post, 
laid the foundation for a great city. It was forty 
years after this, however, before any town was laid 
out, and the trading post became dignified by a 
name; seventeen years before Missouri was a 
State, and twice that number of years before the 
Platte Purchase was made part of it and the Indian 
title extinguished. Since that time St. Joseph has 
grown steadily, step by step, until to-day she is a 
city numbering 40,000 inhabitants, with all the ap- 
pliances and surroundings that make a great center 
of wealth and population. 

In 1846 she had a population of 800, and in that 
year, so eventful in American history, she became 
the 

COUNTY SEAT OF BUCHANAN COUNTY. 

Since then she has had an average increase in her 
population, each year of more than a thousand, and 
her wealth and importance have gi'own in propor- 
tion. At no period in her history has there been any 
spasmodic growth, and neither has there been any 
sign of a retrograde movement. Like all the cities 
of this country, she has felt seriously the etfects of the 
financial depression of the past six or seven years ; 
but 1879 marked a new era in her h|^tory, and her 
growth the past year has been something marvel- 
ous. Not only has there been a large increase of 
population, but a wonderful impetus has been felt 
in every branch of trade and industry. Over two 
thousand new houses have been erected, among 
them several magnificent business blocks, and the 
present'indications are that building will continue 
during ttie whole of 1880. 

TRADE AND COMMERCE. 

It is safe to say that no city of its size in the 
United States surpasses St. Joseph in the magni- 
tude of its commercial operations. Situated in thp 
heart of one of the finest agricultural districts on 
the continent, it is not strange that this should bs 
pre-eminently a commercial city. During the year 
1879 the trade of St. Joseph aggregated fifty mil- 
lions, and for 1880 it will bo almost a third larger. 
Her wholesale trade extends aU over Northwesf 
Missouri into Southwest and Western Iowa; into 
Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New 
Mexico, Texas and California, and throughout 
Kansas and Nebraska. She has about fifty exclu- 
sively jobbing houses, which keep over three hun- 
dred commercial travelers constantly in the field. 
Last year one traveling man for one of the largest 
dry goods houses sold $100,900 wortli of goods on 
the road, and a representative of one of the milli- 
nery houses sold more goods on the line of the 
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe road than were sold 
in his line by the combined houses oi any other 



72 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



city, including Chicago, St. Louis and New York. 
Most of the jobbing houses of tliis city have very large 
capitals, seven of them being quoted at A "1" (first 
class), and having branches in Kansas City, Omaha 
and other towns. There is plenty of room for addi- 
tional jobbing houses, and several branches of busi- 
ness would pay well. A paper house, a furniture 
house, and several others that might be named, 
•would undoubtedly succeed admirably. 

JOBBING TRADE, 

The following carefully compiled figures repre- 
sent the jobbing trade of St. Joseph for 1879 in the 

leading lines : 

Increase 

per cent. 

over 1878. 187'.). 

Groceries 20 $ 0,,500,000 

Drygoods 40 10,000,000 

Boots and shoes 25 2,12.'5,000 

Wines and liquors 25 2,000,000 

Drugs and paints 33 J 3,600,000 

Iron, hardware, etc 40 3,000,000 

Hats and caps CO 1,987,500 

Clothing 25 1,875,000 

Lumber — 2,312,500 

Saddlery, etc ~ 900,000 

Total $36,400,000 

CONCEKNING THE COMMERCIAL PROS- 
PERIXr 

of this city it may be truthfully said that St. Joseph, 
which twenty-five years ago was a mere frontier trad- 
ing post, now contains a thriving, active, pushing 
population, of upward of thirty thousand people. 
Every department of commerce and industry is 
represented. Over a million dollars have been ex- 
pended in the last twelve months in the erection 
of new buildings. The wholesale and retail trade 
is figured above $40,000,000 annually, whilst it is 
said that there are no fewer than eiglit conftnercial 
houses which liave a cash ('apital of $1,000,000 each. 
The business of the city has increased nearly one- 
third within the past year. There are fifteen miles 
of improved streets, and twenty miles of water 
mains have been laid or are under contract. 

THE GRAIN TRADE. 

Tlie grain trade of the city has increased very 
notably during the past two years. It is stated, on 
reliable authority, that there is handled at this 
point 15,000,000 I)ushels of corn, 5,000,000 of wheat, 
250,000 rye, and 500,000 barley, per annum. 

STOCK-YARDS AND PACKING-HOUSES. 

The stock-yards cover seven acres, andljelong to 
a stock company. There are received at the yards 
120,000 to 150,000 hogs per annum, and 10,000 to 12,000 
cattle. The figures do not include direct shipments 
to several large packing-houses, which will iiuirease 
the minil;cr of hogs to 300,000. 

There are four packing-houses in this city— one 
having a capacity of 15,000 hogs per day; and, at 
Winthrop, in this county, is located the largest 
establishment of the kind in the West. It will be 



noted, from the large receipts of corn reported, that 
this section would naturally be a great hog country, 
and is, ]5erhaps, the best district of that kind in the 
entire West. 

MANUFACTURES. 

St. Joseph is rapidly becoming an important 
manufacturing city, and every year v?itnesses a 
lai-ge addition to her facilities in this direction. 
The following is a partial list of her manufacturing 
enteii^rises : Extensive stone works, two ax handle 
manufactories, one baking powder manufactory, 
two basket makers, two boiler makers, five l)oot 
and shoe manufactories, two box manufactories, 
five breweries, one broom manufactorj^ four 
candy manufactories, five carriage manufactories, 
eighteen cigar manufactories, eight cooperages, 
one copper and sheet iron worker, two cracker 
manufactories, one dyeing establishment, three 
foundries and machine shops, four flour mills, 
three furniture manufactories (one, the largest in 
the West, employing 200 men), one hosiery manu- 
factory, five pork and beef jjacking-houses, four 
manufactories of patent medicines, four jilaning 
mUls, three potteries, four book binderies, six sad- 
dle and harness makers, two soap manufactories, 
one fruit and vegetable canning establishment (em- 
l)loying .500 men), three soda water manufactories, 
ten manufactories of tin work, one Terra Cotta 
establishment, two manufactories of trunks and 
valises, four vinegar manufactories, eight wagon 
manufactories, one whip manufactory, one woolen 
mill, one stove manufactory, one large clothing 
manufactory, besides numerous smaller establish- 
ments, making a grand total of 131 manufacturing 
establishments, employing over 3,000 men, and 
manufacturing products to the amount of many 
million dollars. . 

PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 

The public buildings of St. Joseph are among the 
finest in the State, not even excepting St. Louis. The 
coui't house, reaching from one street to the Other, 
with large wings, commodious halls and roomy cor- 
ridors, the city hall and market house. Tootle's Opera 
House, the finest and most convenient west of ("in- 
cinnati, the Female College building, the Convent of 
the Sacred Heart, State Lunatic Asylum No. 2, 
and other buildings would adorn any city in the 
Union. In addition to these, a $200,000 Union Depot, 
of the best kind, has been contracted for, and will 
be erected this season, and a bill is now before 
Congress for the erection of a custom-house and 
post-oflice building here. In addition to these, are 

NUMEROUS SCHOOL HOUSES. 

chuTTbes, wholesale and retail store buildings, 
that stand as enduring evidences of the enter- 
prise and wealth of the city. The city has begun 
the construction of an extensive and eiHcient 
pyslem of water works, which will be com- 
pleted by the first of July next, and capable of 
supr>'Ying a city of 100,000 people Avith the best of 
water. There arc numerous cliurclies, and as good 
a system of public schools as (licro is in the entire 
country. The educational interests will tfc treated 
elsewhere. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



73 



RAILROADS. 

No city of its size in the Union possesses superior 
railroad facilities to St. Joseph. Ten railroad lines 
converge there, making it pre-eminently the rail- 
road center of the great Northwest. These roads 
are the Hannibal & St. Joseph, the pioneer road of 
the State, extending east across the entire State to 
Hannibal and Quincy on the Mississippi River, where 
<',onnection is made with all Eastern lines ; the Wa- 
bash, St. Loiiis & Pacitic,/forming a direct line to St. 
Louis ; the St. Joseph & Western, extending across 
the great iron bridge, through Kansas and Nebraska, 
and making direct connection at Grand Island with 
the Union Pacific, of which it is really a part; the 
Missouri Pacific, anothei- connecting line with St. 
Louis ; the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs, 
extending south to Kansas City and north to Omaha, 
■with its Nodaway Valley Branch, extending through 
the rich Nodaway Vallej% and its Chicago Branch, 
making direct connection with the Chicago, Burling- 



ton & Quincy, and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe ; 
the St. Joseph & Des Moines, now owned and oper- 
ated by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; the Chi- 
cago, Rock Island &. Pacific, and the Atchison & 
Nebraska. The Chicago & iUton, and the Atchison, 
Topeka & Santa Fe will also shortly run lines into 
St. Joseph, making a grand concentration of eleven 
railroads into this important city. 

CONCLUSION. 

To all classes of business men, tradesmen and 
mechanics, " St. Joe" offers inducements second 
to none. A healthy, mild and salubrious climate, a 
first-class location, free-hearted, social intercourse, 
and uijright business connections are among them. 
There is plenty of room, and, although the above 
description is brief, the advantages offered should 
be carefully taken into consideration before a 
choice of location is made. 



C.j#=J=J5^^ 



^^f^ 



The Missouki Immigration Society was organized for the purpose 
of promoting immigration and inviting capital to the State by reliable publi- 
cations which will make known its advantages and attractions. 



It will have no connection with any land agency nor become pecuniarily 
interested in the sale of lands ; but will be prepared to furnish the names of 
responsible parties in all parts of the State to whom inquiries concerning 
such matters may be addressed. 



Advance agents of colonies, and others seeking a location, will be 
assisted in making an examination of the State, or any part of it, also in 
securing special rates of transportation, by railroad or rivers. 



For special information of any character, address 

Missouri Immigration Society, 

St. Louis, Missouri, 
U. S. A. 



ADAIR COUNTY. 



Adair County is most favorably located in the sec- 
ond tier of counties south of the Iowa State Line, and 
on the third tier west of the Mississippi River, and 
has a jjopulatiou of 15,176. 

RAILROAD FACILITIES. 

It is easy of access from all directions, as the Wa- 
bash, St. Louis i&Pacilic Railwaj% with its many con- 
nections, intersects the county from north to south, 
and Kirlisville is the present terminus of the Quincy, 
Missouri & Pacific Railway. A glance at the map 
wiU show tlie facilities afforded by these lines for 
the direct shipment of grain and produce of all kinds 
to the prominent markets of the coiintry, as well as 
the importation of merchandise, a lively competi- 
tion for freiglit preventing the high tariffs which 
fi-equeutly absorb tlie liard earnings of the farmer in 
counties where one line of railroad has full sway to 
dictate rates. 

LAND, SURFACE, SCENERY AND TIMBER. 

The general surface of the county is undulating, 
agreeably intei'spersed with hill and dale. Some- 
thing over one -half of the county consists of rolling 
prairie land and the remainder is covered with a 
luxuriant growtli of timber of the best varieties, 
among which may be mentioned oak, walnut, hick- 
ory, linden, or bass-wood, and hard and soft maple. 

IRRIGATION AND WATER-POWER. 

The county is plentifully and abundantly supplied 
With water. The Chariton River, a fine, swiftly-run^ 
ning stream, with innumerable good water-power 
sites, divides the county from north to soutli tlu'ough 
its western part, while Salt River, a smaller stream, 
takes the same course in the eastern half of the 
county. 

CHARACTER OF LAND AND PRODUCTIONS. 

The lands are rich and fertile, producing large 
yields of wheat, com, rye and oats, all the varieties 



of fruits usually to be found in this latitude, and are 
especially adapted to the growth of clover, timothy 
and genuine blue grass, the richness, abundance 
and variety of its pasturage particularly recom 
mending it as one of the best grazing districts in the 
State. 

MINERALS. 

Large and seemingly inexhaustible beds of good 
coal abound, and those mines which hare been de- 
veloped are producing satisfactorily, both as regardts 
quantity and quality. Limestone and sandstone 
suitable for building purposes also abound in various 
sections. 

EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES. 

It is a fact universally conceded that the best in- 
terests of County or State are promoted by a 
proper attention to the education of youth. The 
school system of Adair County is well organized 
and in effective working order. More than one 
hundred and twenty?commodious public schools are 
now in use, and at Kirksville is located the State 
Normal School, which has an average attendance 
of about four hundred students. This institution, 
one of the best, is supported by the State, and 
possesses a corps of able and energetic teachers. 

TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

Kirksville, the county seat, is an attractive, thriv- 
ing town of 3,000 inhabitants, situated in the center 
of the county, and its location is unsurpassed as to 
climate and healthfulness. As the distributing point 
of the county, its business is in a flourishing condi- 
tion. Excellent water can be obtained at a depth of 
from fifteen to twenty feet, and the supply is never 
exhausted. There are eight religious edifices in th» 
town : the Methodists have two handsome churches, 
the Presbyterians two, the Baptists two, the Episco- 
palians one, and the Christians one. The Sabbath 
schools of all have a good attendance. 



ANDREW COUNTY. 



Andrew County is bounded on the north by Noda- 
way County, on the east by Gentry and De Kalb 
Counties, on the south by Buchanan County, on the 
southwest, for about twelve mUes, by the ^Missouri 
River, and on the west by Holt County, the Nodaway 
River being the line between the two counties for 
the greater portion of the mutual boundary. It is 
almost sqiiare, being about twenty miles from one 
boundary line to its parallel, and its area comprises 
about 273,025 acres. 

POPULATION. 

Its population, in 1870, footed up 15,137, and the in- 
crease since that period has not been vei-y great. A 
census was taken in 1876 which did not vary ma- 
terially from that taken in 1870. 



PROPERTY VALUATION AND FINANCE. 

The Taluation of property in the county, as re- 
turned for taxation for the last year, totals $4,617,778. 
The taxation is very low. The county does not owe 
a dollar, is perfectly free from debt and has learned 
the lesson of economy from experience, having paid 
nearly a quarter of a million of railroad bonds, and 
a debt is not likely to again occur in the history of 
the county until the old generation has passed away 
and the constitutional provision prohibiting counties 
from going into debt shall be removed. 

SOIL, WATER AND PRODUCTS. 

Andrew County is exceedingly well watered, 

every portion of the county abounding in mnning 



4 b 



Hand-Book of Hissouri. 



streams, and fine sjirings being exceedingly abun- 
dant. The section of land in this county, without 
cither a spring or running stream upon its boundary, 
or -uithin its limits, is the exception ; while almost 
every quarter section is blessed with plenty of stock 
water. The timbered portion of this county is 
usually a dark brown calcareous soil, overlaid by 
vegetable mold, with a clay subsoil. This subsoil is 
open and readily permits the surface moisture to 
l^ass through. The timber soil is light, friable, and 
is by no means difficult to cultivate. Blue or June 
grass takes kindly to the timber soil, and grows with 
that rank luxuriance which characterizes the Blue 
Grass region of Kentucky. The rock which under- 
lies this timber land is most frequently limestone. 
No better wheat soil can be found in the northwest, 
while it is well adapted to the whole circle of small 
grains. The timber is usually oak, walnut, eli^, 
hickory, sugar, maple and hackberry. The hack- 
berry land is what is known here as " hemp land," 
and in the decade preceding the rebellion no higher 
compliment could be paid to any locality by a Mis- 
sourian than to say, " that's hemp laud." Corn is 
here, as elsewhere throughout the countrj', the 
staple crop, and on no upland soil in the West does 
it succeed better. Tame gi-asses And here a con- 
genial soU, and yield well, while the entire list of 
garden vegetables yield enormously. The area of 
the timber land is about three -lifths of the area of 
the entire count}^ and is uniformly good. There are 
very few acres of upland in the county which are 
not susceptible of cultivation. Occasionally on a 
hUl-side there may be an outcropping rock, but 
these outcroppings are contined to limited local- 
ities, and even these are well adapted to fruit 
culture. There are no timbered " barren lauds," as 
are frequently found East. Even the brows and 
steep sides of the bluffs are capable of producing 
crops of cereals. 

About two-fifths of the surface area is upland, 
rolling prairie. Its soil is the usual black vegetable 
mold, consisting of the accumulated debris of de- 
cayed vegetation, which for centuries has been 
pUed, layer ui)on layer, uutU it has reached a depth 
of from two to four feet. The subsoil is silicious ^ 
clay, open, light and fertile. This soil is of unsur- 
passable fertility, capable of producing immense 
crops of all the cereals, and every vegetable known 
to this latitude. The soil drys out remarkably 
quick after rains. One day the country will be 
muddy, i^iud e\'erywhcre and almost unfathomable ; 
the next day tiie warm sun and drying winds come, 
and by noon plows are running, and the roads, as if 
by magic, become firm and solid. Winter wheat, 
in the timbered portions of the county, is considered 
a certain crop. It is the opinion of those best qual- 
ified to judge that the average yield of winter 
wheat is aboiit fifteen busliels per acre, one year 
with another. Oats, barley, rye and buckwheat 
yield large crops. Potatoes are exceedingly fine 
and yield well, bringing uniformly good prices^ 
Sorghum groAVS thriftily and is considerably culti- 
vated. 

From proximity to St. Joseph, market garden- 
ing is found to pay, and as that city increases 
in population there will be an increasing demand 
for the product of market gardens and " truck 
patches;." 



FRUIT CULTURE. 

The soil is peculiarly adapted to the growing ol 
apples, pears, plums and grapes, while nowhere ia 
the West do small fruits succeed better. Jackson, 
Lincoln, Jefferson, and a portion of Nodaway town- 
ships, have that peculiar soil, which is the finest fruit 
soil ever seen. Its peculiarity consists in its deep 
impregnation with salts and oxides of iron and 
chalk, or some form of marl. There is no need of 
drainage where this soil predominates. The plow 
will sufficiently prepare the soil for any variety o*' 
fruit, hence vineyards and orchards can be planted 
here with but veiy little exi^ense or trouble. The 
climate is mild, the mean average temperature being 
about 52 deg., Fahrenheit, while in the townships 
mentioned, enough of the primitive forest has beeu 
left to furnish to almost every orchard a protecting 
timber belt. Apple orchards are numerous, while 
almost every farmer is planting trees by the hun- 
dred, and in many cases by the thousand. In Lin- 
coln township, near the village of Amazonia, as well 
as elsewhere in the county, considerable vineyards 
have been for some years in cultivation, and the 
success that has attended grape -growing especially 
in that locality has induced many others to embark 
in it. The older vineyards belong mostly to Switz- 
ers, who were familiar with grape-growing in 
Switzerland. North, northwest and west, lies aii 
immense, fertile and populous country, that, from 
its lack of protecting timber belts, and low average 
temperature, can never supply its own demand for 
any but a few of the most hardy fruits. That coun- 
try depends upon Missouri for much of the larger 
portion of its supply, and the counties of the Platte 
Purchase are the first fruit-producing counties they 
will strike when coming to Missouri for their fruit. 
The magnitude of this fruit trade is already very 
great, and is year by year increasing. Hundreds of 
wagons from Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska, each 
autumn visit the county, and are loaded down with 
Andi-ew Countj^ ap])les, pears, i^eaches and grapes, 
while by rail, buyers come from Omaha and the 
plains, who buy the product of whole orchards, 
taking the fruit, at high prices, from the trees, for 
shipment west. The orchardist has no trouble with 
his crop. He plants his orchard and cares for it 
until it comes to bearing, and then he sells, if so de- 
siring, the product on the trees. There is no gath- 
ering, no unsalable fruit, no bills to collect; it ia 
cash in hand, at highly remunerative prices. Here 
apples are a tolerably sure crop, and are of a very 
superior quality, too. It has been frequently re- 
marked by Eastern men that varieties with whicli 
they have been entirely famUiar East, are here 
so much superior in size and flavor and general ap- 
pearance, that they are no longer able to recognize 
them as the fruit they knew at home. The citizens 
are fully aware of the adaptability of the soil and 
climate for the production of the standard fruits, 
and are planting orchards at a rate that astonishes ' 
Eastern visitors. ' 

Peaches are not a sure crop, although there have ' 
been enormous crops, while there will be a few 
crops in favored locations almost every year. Peach- 
es here are exceedingly fine when they do flourish, , 
as fine as we have ever seen in any portion of the 
United States, of the same varieties. In short, there 



Hand-Book or Missouri. 



( ( 



is no portion of the T'nited States that offers supe- 
rior inducements to the orchardist and vine-grower 
than Andrew County. 

To the farmer who desires to devote liis attention 
to mixed or general farming, this county otters 
peculiar advantages. Corn, the Western farmer's 
great staple, is here entirely successful. Even with 
the shiftless modes of farming peculiar to the West, 
large crops of corn are produced; while, with supe- 
rior culture, enormous yields have been made. All 
the small grains succeed admirably well ; so does the 
entire list of garden vegetables, while all the fruits 
adapted to tliis climate are as successful here as any 
portion of the United States. The soil is ^ell adapt- 
ed to the gi-asses, and stock does well. The markets 
are good for every article a farmer can raise in this 
latitude, while for many products they are superior 
to many parts of the West. Mixed farming is, there- 
fore, found to be very profitable. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

The raising of mules has been a considerable part 
of the business of the stock-raisers, and has yielded, 
when properly managed, large returns upon the 
capital invested. Sheep do exceedingly well in this 
county. The arid atmosphere and dry soil are par- 
ticularly healthy for sheep. Animals from Eastern 
herds having foot-rot and other diseases, most gen- 
erally recover after being pastured here for a sea- 
son. Hogs are extensively raised in this county, and 
are entirely healthy. They are considered the best 
stock for profit a farmer can raise, and have been 
uniformly, for years, highly remunerative to the 
raiser. Farmers have to feed their cattle from four 
to six months out of eveiy year. Some years the 
pasturage is good until almost the first of January, 
often until the middle of December, while the first 
of May in nearly every season shows grass enough 
for stock to live well in both the tame and wild pas- 
tures. Cattle and hogs are the leading live stock 
products, and the amount of stock of this kind 
raised in Andrew County cannot be easily esti- 
mated. Considerable attention is given to the rais- 
ing of the finer grades of stock and poultry, and at 
the present rates of progress, the county will soon be 
stocked with the improved and best grades. An- 
drew County cannot boast of its mineral resources 
at present. It has, however, good evidences of vast 
amounts of coal underneath the surface. Bock for 
building purposes is abundant. 

MARKETS, RAILROAD FACILITIES, ETC. 

An important matter for consideration, in com- 
puting the value of a country, is the means a coun- 
try has to place the sui-plus products in a market 
where they will command a ready sale at good 
prices. The city of St. Joseph, an enterprising com- 
mercial and manufacturing city of 40,000 inhabitants, 
is only about one mile squth of the southern bound- 
ary, and within six hours drive over generally good 
wagon-roads, of the most remote portions of the 
county. So situated, butter, eggs, poultiy, vegeta- 
bles and marketing generally, always commands 
good prices. Savannah is also a good market for 
produce of various kinds, and goods may be bought 
tliere at as low prices as any city in the West. The 
Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs road, run- 
ning through the southwest portion of the county, 



gives eastern, western and southern connectiojis at 
St. Joseph and Kansas City, Missouri, and at Atchi- 
son, Leavenworth and Topeka, Kansas, and north- 
west connections at Council Bluffs. In addition, the 
Maryville Branch of the same road, starting from 
the main line at Amazonia, on the Missouri Eiver, 
and riinning north through the central ijortion of 
the county, on and into Iowa, connecting at Creston, 
Iowa, with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- 
road, affords direct communication with Chicago. 
The St. Joseph &Des Moines Narrow Gauge Eailroad 
passes through the eastern portion of the county. 
This road has lately been purchased by the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Company, who will at once 
extend their main line down along this line. The 
railroad facilities are getting better evei-y year. 

CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 

The people of Andrew County are, as a rule, indus- 
trious, peace-loving and law-abiding, honest, sober, 
intelligent, moral and religious. The population is 
made up of families from Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, 
Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Kentucky 
Germany and England, a large portion having come 
here since the war. No portion of the United States 
has enjoyed greater tranquility, or more absolute 
freedom from crime than has Andrew County for 
over ten years. There is no need for the revolver 
and the Bowie-knife; the streets and highways are 
traveled at all hours of the day and night, when it is 
necessary, by individuals unarmed and unattended, 
with perfect security. There never has been a civil 
execution in the county, and not even a cause for 
one since the close of the war. An acquaintance 
with the rudiments of an English education is uni- 
versal, there being very few persons of adult years 
resident here, who cannot read and write, and who 
do not understand common arithmetic, and from this 
the gi-aduation in educational matters is ordinary 
until the not a few are reached who have had the 
benefit of the regular college course, or its equiva- 
lent, if not superior, in self-given application. Those 
given to lay great store in religious matters wUl find 
every portion of the county well supplied with 
church buildings and church organizations. Metho- 
dist, Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal South, Presby- 
terian, Baptist, Christian, Episcopalian, Catholic, 
and other churches abound. 

CLIMATE AND HEALTH. 

The county abounds in thousands of fountains, 
flowing, coi)ioais streams of pure, clear, cold water, 
which for life-i^resei-ving and life-giving qualities 
cannot be excelled anywhere. The atmosphere is 
very dry, light and active, descending in bracing 
breezes from (he mountains of the northwest. An 
hour after a heavy rain, all trees, grasses, and other 
verdure are blown dry, and the active air and 
peculiarly absorbent soil render the roads dry and 
pleasant to travel in two or three hours after a rain 
of half a day's duration. The winters are usually 
very dry, the rainfall not being worth mentioning- 
Some winters heavy snows occur, covering the 
ground for two or three months, btit such are the 
exception. Usually the roads are dry, even to being 
dusty, a large portion of the winter season. An 
abundance of good water, pure, bracing air, a soil 
absorbing all moisture as fast as it faUs, thereby 



78 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



pvaventing miasmatic conditions, and a temperature 
o^ an even nature : these are factors, which, in their 
combination, cannot but render a country healthy, 
and such is Andrew County. Some years ago along 
the river and creek bottoms, there prevailed con- 
siderable malaria, such as is incident to the set- 
tlement of all new countries, ))ut this has passed 
away, yielding to tlie sanitary influence of the plow 
and drainage. Epidemics of cholera, small-pox and 
diseases similarly dreaded, are unknown. 
LOW PRICES OF LAND. 
Unimproved and improved lands in Andrew 
County can be purchased at exceedingly low prices. 
Unimproved land, in a good neighborhood, con- 
venient to churches and school houses, and of as 



rich soil as can be found any^vhere, can be bought as 
low as ten dollars and ranges from that to twenty- 
five dollars. Improved lands range from ten dol- 
lars to seventy-five dollars an acre, according to 
location and improvements. It is conceded every- 
where tliat the "bottom" has been reached in 
financial matters. 

Andrew County upon a whole, has reason to be, 
and is proud of what she is able to offer new-comers. 
Rich soil, convenient markets, congenial people, 
good educational laws and schools, health and liap- 
piness, with bright prospects ahead, in improve- 
ments and^U railroad conveniences, Andrew claims 
to be the banner county of the famous and world- 
renowiied Platte Purchase. 



ATCHISON COUNTY. 



Atchison County, the extreme northwest portion 
of Missouri, includes an area of 329,752 acres in that 
proverbially rich and fertile section of the State, 
known as the Platte Purchase. It is bounded on the 
north by Iowa, on the east by Nodaway County, on 
the south by Holt, and on the west by the Missouri 
River, which separates it from Nebraska. 

THE TOPOGRAPHY 

ojt this county includes three distinct classes of 
territory, f amiliaiy known as the bottoms, the bluffs, 
and the rolling prairies. The bottoms, a peculiar 
feature of this section of the State, extend along the 
center western boundary of the county, in a belt 
varying from two and a half to eight miles in width, 
and" are nearly all in cultivation, or fenced in in large 
tracts of pasture lands. The bluffs, which afford a 
pleasing relief to the otherwise monotonous aspect 
of a vast plain laden with exuberant crops of corn, 
constitute the naiTow dividing line between the in- 
exhaustible fields of this bottom land and the high 
rolling prairies, which extend eastward to the 
heavily timbered bottoms of the Nodaway River in 
the adjoining county of Nodaway. 



Atchison is essentially a prairie county, and timber 
is by no means a prominent feature of its general 
aspect. The supply, however, is ample for the 
necessary local demands of fencing, fuel, etc., the 
banks of the Nishnabotna, the Big Tarkio, and nu- 
mei'ous otlier streams of minor import whicli vein 
the area of this fertile section, are all clothed, more 
or less, with Cottonwood, walnut, box elder, water 
maple a^d other timber of corresponding value. 

WATER. 

Besides tlie ample system of inexhaustible streams 
whicli afford ample stock water for the vast herds of 
cattle that roam over lier plains, for it is a rare thing 
to find in Atchison County a quarter section of land 
absolutely without such water, the supply for domes- 
tic purjjoses is readily obtained by boring at a depth 
of from twelve to forty feet. 



SOIL. 

The general character of the prairie, which in- 
cludes an area of largely over two hundred thous- 
and acres, is a black vegetable mould, rarely less 
than two and often over four feet in deptli, yielding 
with the exceedingly slight cultivation it generally 
receives, crops of corn not inferior to the yields of 
the celebrated Miami and Sciota valleys of Ohio. 
The subsoil of tlie uplands is a ricli lacustrine deposit 
peculiar to the ricli slopes of the Missouri River. 
tUhe bottoms nearly all constitute what is called in 
this country " made lands," and not a native forma- 
tion. Hundreds of years of tillage will be iusufii- 
cient to exhaust the incompai-able richness of these 
lands. 

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 

Timothy, clover, red top, blue grass, and aU kinds 
of tame gi-asses flourish when planted in this soil. 
The native prairie grasses, of whicli tliere are nu- 
merous varieties, however, affords a quality of hay 
upon which stock thrive admirably and vast quan- 
tities are cut every year and stacked for winter's 
use. It is a noticeable fact' that of late years the 
celebrated blue grass, the finest pasturage in the 
world, is gradually encroaching, and in the neigh- 
borhood of much pastured lands, eating out the 
native grasses. 

Northwest Missouri is probably the banner corn 
country of the State, and in no section of the Platte 
Purchase are more exuberant crops of this staple 
produced than in Atchison County. Tlie bottoms or 
vaUeys of the Missouri, the Nishnabotna and the 
Nodaway rivers are vast and continuous fields of 
this exuberant product, affording to the stranger 
wlio beholds the scene for the first time a i)icture of 
novelty, suggestive of boundless agricultural wealtli, 
which never fails to leave a lasting impression on 
the mind. Sixty bushels to the acre on tlic uplands 
is considered less than an ordinary yield, and ciglity 
bushels of corn per acre in the bottoms, a yield that 
is expected from very sliglit cultivation. In an 
I extraordinary corn year, many farms in the bottoms 
I will average one hundred bushels to the acre. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



Considering the exceediiij^ly sliglit cultivation that 
is bestowed on these lands, these results are ti-uly 
enormous. The latest improved agricultural ma- 
chinery of aU kinds is used in this county ; such an 
implement as a hand Iioe is scarcely known, riding 
plows for breaking and two -hand ciiltivatDrs for 
tending being almost exclusively used. The present 
<'-orn crop of Atchison County is estimated at nearly 
6,000,000 bushels 

Other grains are cultivated and do well, though 
corn is tlie great staple. Oats, barley, rye, buck- 
wheat, sorghum, flax, hemp, tobacco and other 
products do well. Of late years winter wheat has 
proven a success and large quantities are sown. 

Xo better fruit country exists anywhere. Several, 
well-stocked nurseries exist in different parts of the 
county. One of these, about four miles east of 
Rockport, has been in successful operation ten 
years, and nearly every farmer that is already pro- 
vided is putting out his orchard. Exjierience has 
proven that the comparatively rude bluff districts 
are admirably adapted to the growth of the apple, 
and no finer quality of fruit of this kind is produced 
anywhere than in Atchison County. Tlie culture oi 
the grape is also becoming an important element of 
industry. 

LIVE STOCK. 

The raising of cattle, hogs and mules constitutes 
one of the great industries of Atchison County, and 
is justly regarded as a safe and lucrative business. 
A vast proportion of the corn raised in tlie county 
is fed there to immense herds which are fattened 
and exiiorted to Eastern markets. Nearly every 
fanner in the county raises more or less of cattle, 
hogs or mules for export. A few very lai-ge stock 
feeders and farmers are also located here. 

Counting the vast amount of vacant land awaiting 
the immigrant purchaser, the industiy of stock- 
raieing, which, as yet, is but in its infancy, is, in its 
present results, enormous. Not less than 1,800 or 
2,000 car loads of cattle, hogs, sheep and mules have 
been shipped from different points in the county 
during the past year, representing an aggregate 
value of from $1,600,000 to $1,800,000. 

CHARACTER OF LIVE STOCK. 

Experience has taught the stock men of this 
county the necessity of cultivating only superior 
, breeds ; and what are known as scrub cattle and 
scrub hogs are rapidly disappearing, while high- 
grade short-horn cattle, Berkshire and Poland- 
China swine have taken their places. Eeaders of 
this article will probably be sui-prised to learn that 
from t^venty-five to forty per cent, per annum is no 
extraordinary return for ju'dicious investments in 
Ihe raising of live stock in this county. Such, how- 
ever, is nevertheless the fact; nor is it extraordi- 
nary when one considers the exceedingly low rate 
at which the }>est lands in the county sell, and the 
enormous yield of these lands. 

CHEAP LANDS. 

The question is frequently asked why is laud on 
the woodless prairies of Kansas and Nebraska sold 
for such higher prices than the magnificent grain 
lands of Northwest Missouri, and their contiguity of 
excellent timber ? The answer is simply from the 
fact that Ivansas and Neljraska liave been industri- 



. ously advertised, while Northwest Missouri, in 
evei-y respect a better country, is scarcely known 
abroad in its true character. The inexliaustible soil 
of Atchison County, to whose native resources we 
have already referred, may be purchased in its 
native State at from three to ten dollars per acre; 
and the same at from seven to eighteen dollars 
with good improvements. Twenty-five dollars per 
acre is an extraordinary price for the best improved 
land in the county. 

RAILWAY AND SHIPPING FACILITIES. 

The Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs 
Railroad traverses the entire western section of the . 
county, connecting with the great ti-uuk lines East 
and West. An extension of the Clarinda Branch o£ 
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy is projected, and 
will doubtless be built at an early day. The main 
shipping points in the county at present are Phelps 
City and Watson, to which we shall presently refer. 
SYSTEM OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

These number seventy-three, all provided with 
excellent and generally new buildings. These free 
schools are maintained bv an inalienable fund, 
amounting to nearly $1,35,000. Ten per cent, of this 
fund goes to the support of her free schools. Public 
fines and penalties, her apportionment of the State 
fund, and a small dh-ect tax, contribute to render 
her school fund the largest, in proportion to her 
population, of any county in the State. 

SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 

The high school building is a large, plain two- 
story brick structure. The gi-aded school which 
has only been built a few years, is a handsome two- 
story bri(;k structure with a mansard roof. The 
Methodists, German Lutherans .and Baptists have 
each good brick places of worship. The Presbyte- 
rians have a neat frame structure. The court house 
is a plain two-story brick building, adapted to the 
present wants of the country. About three-quarters 
of a mile from Rocki)ort is the Poor Farm of 250 
acres. The poor house is a substantial three-story 
brick building, which cost about $6,000. With aU this 
provisions for the poor, however, the building has 
at present but three inmates. Paupers are rare 
bu'ds in this country. 

FINANCIAL CONDITION. 

Atchison County owes not one dollar of bonded 
debt, an item worthy of no small consideration to 
the immigrant seeking a home in a new country. 

, THE PEOPLE 

of Atchison County are largely drawn from the 
Eastern and Northern States, with many represent- 
ative citizens from the Old Dominion, Kentucky and 
Tennessee, as well as native Missourians. Perhaps 
in no part of the Union will you find less sectional 
animosity, and more harmony and general good feel- 
ing among the people than exists here. The enter- 
prising immigrant, be his former home where it may, 
is welcomed with a generous sentiment of good feel- 
ing by all who earnestly desire the advancement and 
permanent prosperity of their county. 

TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 
Rockport, the county seat, located on the banks of 
Rock Creek, about five miles east of Phelps City, on 



80 



Hand-Book of Mtssouri. 



the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bhififs Rail- 
w.ay, is one of the most elegantly and substantially 
built towns of its population (nearly 1,000) in the 
West. Many of the business hoiises are of brick, 
and in point of appearance, would be creditable to a 
city of 20,000 inhabitants. 

The business men of this live little city rank with 
the most prosperous and enterprising in this part of 
, the country. All branches of ordinary legitimate 
trade are well represented. 

Tlie principal railroad station in Atchison County 
is Plielps City, about live miles west of llockport, in 
the center of the great Missouri River bottom, sur- 
rounded by vast fields of towering corn. Its im- 
portance is mainly due to the fact of its being the 
shipping point for Rocki:)ort— over 1,400 car loads of 
grain and stock being shipped during the past year 



—and also, to some extent, from. Brownville, Ne- 
braska, three miles distant. It has a population of 
about 300. 

WATSON, 

five and a half miles above Phelps City, and about 
eight miles south of Hamburg, Iowa, is also an 
important shipping point on tlie railroad, as well as 
a flourishing commercial center, about as large a 
place as Phelps. Tlie shipments of grain and live 
stock from Watson during tlie year amount to 1,000 
car Ipads. 

CENTER POINT 

is an important trading point a few miles east of 
Rockport. It contains several inaportant business 
houses and a population of about 100. It seems ta 
possess the elements of future pi'osperity. 



AUDRAIN COUNTY 



This county, one of the newer counties of Nortli- 
eastern Missouri, was settled as late as 1829, and 
formally organized in 183(;. It has an area of 690i 
square miles— 441,927 acres— is located about thirty 
miles west of the Mississippi, on the divide between 
the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, in the latitude 
of Cincinnati and Washington, has a mean altitude of 
eight hundred feet above the sea level, and is 
bounded by Pike, Ralls, Monroe, Randolph, Boone, 
Callaway and Montgomery Counties. Eighty per 
cent, of the county lies upon the "Grand Prairie," 
the remaining twenty per cent, being covered 
with well-wooded forests of oak, hickory, ash, elm, 
walnut, sycamore, maple, hackberry, Cottonwood 
and linden, the forests lying along the numerous 
streams, and giving an abundant supply of timber 
and fnel to every township in the county. The 
county is rich in other 

NATURAL RESOURCES. 

Coal of excellent quality underlies three -fourths 
of the county, cropping out in eighteen to thirty-six- 
inch veins along jthe streams and is easily worked 
by "stripping." Every township is supplied with 
massive quarries of limestone of free stratification 
and fine quality for building uses. A score of streams 
with numerous springs and spring-brooks, living 
wells, cisterns, and artificial ponds give an abundant 
and well-distributed water supply. The griyjeful 
prairie undulations, high, rolling woodlands, inter- 
vening valleys, ravines and intervals make up a 
most charming landscape and give admirable natural 
drainage to the entire county. There are no malarial - 
breeding swamps, marshes or lagoons, and tlie pure 
water and pure, invigorating atmosphere of this 
divide, or water-shed, give a high average of health 
to man and lieast. The surface soil of the county is 
generally a dark alluvial, ricli in humus, from ten to 
thirty inches deep, rich and flexible, easily worked 
and very productive. The subsoil is rich in siliceous 
matter, lime, magnesia, alumina and organic matter, 
and in conjunction with the surface soils, forms the 
most indestructible and versatile basis for agricul- 
ture known to husbandry. 



RANGE OF FARM PRODUCTION. 

The extent and wide range of production is a high 
compliment to the county. All the grains, vegeta- 
bles, fruits and grasses grown within the great mid- 
dle belt of the Union flourish in this soil. Corn is 
the great staple, gives a yield of thirty-five to seven- 
ty-five bushels per acre, and is largely grown for 
feed and export. 

Wheat yields from fourteen to thirty-five bushel* 
per acre, is largely produced and is a popular crop. 
Oats, barley and rye are successful and profitable 
ci'ops. Broom corn, tobacco, sorghum, millet, Hun- 
garian, and the whole catalogue of field and garden 
vegetables are an unqualified success. As a grass- 
growing country, Audrain County ranks with the 
finest in the West. Blue grass is indigenous and 
makes a magnificent growth in every part of the 
county. The timothy and clover meadows are 
among the finest in the State. "White clover is a uni- 
versal and ijrofltable hei-bage. The wild prairie 
grasses make a rich growth in all the newer portions 
of the county. 

STOCK HUSBANDRY. 

Stock-raising is the leading industry and takes 
grand proportions. Thoroughbred horses, cattle 
sheep and swine are kept in good numbers, and the 
herds of high grade short-horns, well-bred Cots- 
wolds. Downs, Berkshjres, Poland Chinas, mules and 
horses give the county high rank in the great stoc-k 
markets. Large numbers of model short -horn steers 
are fed for the European trade and the extent of the 
live stock industry is suiT3rising. The Assessor re- 
turns horses, 6,544; mules, 2,551 ; cattle, 22,179; sheep, 
21,372; and 23,269 swine, for the county. The yearly 
export of ' fat cattle, sheep and swine and surplus 
horses and mules foots up 1,400 car loads, worth, at 
cui-rent prices, $1,500,000. Pasturage is good for nine 
months of the year, many farmers grazing young 
stock fully ten months. The timbered bottoms, 
valleys and ravines afford admirable winter shelter 
for all kinds of live stock, and the abundant water 
supply, luxuriant grasses, natural shelter, mild, dry 



Hand-Book •of Missouri. 



81 



climate, cheap gi-ain, cheap transportation and low 
price of grazing lands, make Audrain County a most 
inviting field for anabitious stock-growers. 

FRUIT-GROWING AND VARIETY FARMING 

is a success with all experienced and careful culti- 
vators. Many flue, thrifty, fruitful orchards -and 
vineyards, embracing the standard fruits of the 
medium latitudes attest tlie xjroflt and pleasure of 
this noble industry. Variety farmiug is greatly 
favored by the location, versatility of soil, cheap 
transportation and mild climate, and is pursued witli 
unfailing profit lay tliree-fourths of the farmers. 

NO WASTE I.AND. 

There is no land of this description in Audrain 
Count J-, full ninety per cent, of the lauds being avail- 
able to the cultivator and the remaining ten i3cr cent, 
adapted to blue grass and wljite clover from the 
water-line to the ci'own of the sharpest hill. Every 
farm in the county is well suited to the use of farm 
machinery and farm-work is never hurried or con- 
fused 

THE TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES 

are unusually jflne. There are eighty niUes of rail- 
way aaid ten shipping stations within the county, so 
well distributed that three-fourths of the producers 
are within five miles of a railroad station. The main 
lines of the Chicago & iUton and the Wabash, St- 
Louis & Pacific railways cross the entire county, 
giving the producers and shippers easy, quick and 
cheap coranumd of Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, 
and the entire railway system of the country. A 
branch of the Chicago & Alton runs from Mexico^ 
the county seat, to Jefferson City, the capitol of the 
State. The probable early completion of the Han- 
nibal & Mexico Railway wUl add materially to the 
superior facilities above mentioned. 

THE POPULATION. 

of Audrain County numbers about 20,000 and is more 
composite in make up than that of any other county 
in this division of the State. Kentucky, Virginia, 
the Middle, Xew England and Northwestern States, 
the Canadas, Western and Central Europe have all 
contributed to a somal, political and religious order, 
as intelligent, refined, appreciative, tolerant and 
liospitable as can be found between the two oceans. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

Tlie people of Audrain have built and furnished 
eighty-six school houses; support eighty-sLx free 
Ijublio schools one hundred and sixty-days of the 
year; have a permanent school fund of $47,559; an 
enrollment of 5,S82 school children, and give their 
fichool system a generous and enlightened support. 
The moral and religious status of the county is in- 
dicated by the presence and influence of twenty- 
six churches, representing all the leading denom- 
inations. 

COUNTY FINANCES. 

The county has been admirably managed. Tliough 
upwards of $600,000 have been expended by the 
county, in the last dozen years, for railroads, county 
buildings, bridges and other improvements the 
county is practically out of debt. 

The entire county indebtedness amounts to only 
$20,000, all due in 18S1, and the county treasury holds 
the suiiJlus cash to cancel it at maturity. Upon a 



total valuation of $4,840,113, the entire tax levy (in- 
cluding a three mill tax for county school purposes 
is but $1.24 on the $100, (one and one -fourth per 
cent). 

PRICE OF LANDS. 

In addition to the resources and advantages 
named, the low price of lands will also prove an 
^attraction to immigrants. Good wild prairie and tim- 
ber lands, admirable for cattle and sheep ranches, 
fruit or grain farms, are in the market at four to 
ten dollars per acre. Improved farms, forty to one 
thousand acres in extent, are selling at eight to 
twenty five dollars per acre, the price being governed 
by soil, location and pennanent improvements. Con- 
sidering the location, quality and productive capa- 
city of these lands, they are among the cheapest ou 
the Western market. 

THE TOWNS 

of Audrain (bounty offer unusual social, educational, 
commercial and manufacturing advantages and op 
portuuities. Mexico, the capital of the county, has 
a population of 5,.500, is finely located near the center 
of the county, abounds in elegant business sites and 
homes, and is surrounded by a charming farm re- 
gion, and is one of the mostattractive towns of its 
class in the West. The three railways herein men- 
tioned, with the round house and repair sliops of a 
division station ; splendid flouring mills, a woolen 
factory, two grain elevators, three banks, superior 
hotel accommodations, opera house, ten churches, 
an elegant $20,000 public school house, a $50,000 court 
house, a daily and four weekly newspapers, Hardin 
Female College, a dozen fraternities, the finest ex- 
hibit of trade and commercial houses to be found in 
any to^vn of its class in Missouri, with a cosmopoli- 
tan, intelligent and remarkably enterprising and 
hospitable people make Mexico one of the most in- 
viting towns in the West. It has a yearly trade of 
$2,000,000, is growing in population, building, trade, 
and material wealth, at the rate of twenty per cent, 
per annum and is destined to reach a population of 
10,000 within the present decade. 

Vandalia, the next important town, is located in 
the eastern part of tlie county, ou the Chicago & 
Alton Railway, in the midst of a rich and productive 
farm country, has a population of 700, a large ship- 
ping and general trade, and is a growing and sub- 
stantial town. 

Laddonia, on the Chicago & Alton road, and Mar- 
tinsburg, on the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific line, are 
both substantial trading points, each representing 
a splendid farm country. 

INDUCEMENTS TO IMMIGRANTS. 

There are openings here for all classes of intelli- 
gent, self-ieliaut, self-sustaining men. The land 
titles are unclouded. The lands are cheaper than 
free homesteads on the border; taxation is nominal; 
educational advantages are of a high order, and the 
new-comer will be greeted by as cordial and hospit- 
able a people as ever crossed the Mississippi, and 
wlU find here not cheap lands, a mild climate, 
generous soil and fine commercial and social con- 
ditions only, but perfect freedom to work out destiny 
on any jjlane of honest conviction and action that 
))elong to the prerogative of the American. 



82 



Hand-Book pF Missouri. 



BARRY COUNTY. 



Barry County is situated in tjie southwestern part 
of the State, and is bounded on the east by Stone 
County, north by Lawrence County, west by Kewton 
and McDonald Counties, and south by the State of 
Arkansas. 

AREA AND PRODUCTIONS. 

There are 806^ square miles, or 516,160 acres of land 
in the county, about three-fourths of which is sus- 
ceptible of cultivation, and adapted to the produc- 
tion of wheat, rye, oats, potatoes, sorghum, cotton, 
and grass, and the crop of tobacco succeeds as well 
as in Virginia or Kentucky. Fruits of almost eveiy 
Tariety succeed well, esi>ecially apples. 

STOCK. 

Almost every portion of the county is well adapted 
to the raising and gi-azmg of stock of all kinds, 
sheep in particular, although cattle, horses, mules 
and hogs, make a profitable showing. 

IRRIGATION AND WATER FACILITIES. 

The c«untj' is well watered by the Big and Little 
Flat Creeks, Sugar, Joyce, Shoal and Payne's 
Creeks, and White and Roaring Rivers. The latter 
stream is a natural curiosity, having its soul-ce at a 
spring about two hundred feet deep. Bursting out 
from iinder a mountain, it runs in a southeasterly 
course twenty miles, and empties into White River. 
It furnishes an abundance of water-power for mills, 
factories, etc., and two large flourishing mills, are 
already located upon it. The water is as clear as 
crystal, and cool enough to drinlt the hottest summer 
weather. White River has been navigated, by small 
boats, as high up as the mouth of Roaring River, 
near the village of Golden, in this county. There 
are no factories in the county no vr, and the open- 
ings for business of this description are unexcelled. 

TOPOGRAfHV. 

The eastern portion of the county is broken and 
hilly, with small valleys interspersed, in which the 
richest and most productive soil is found. This 
part of the cojinty possesses an abundance of oak, 
and some pine, cedar and walnut timber. In the 
middle and western i)arls of the county, high rolling 
timber and prairie lands characterize the country. 

PRICK OF LAND. 
There is very little Government lands left, but a 
large amount of private and railroad lands may be 
obtained for two to five dollars per acre, while im- 
proved lands sell at from live to twenly-five.dollars 
per acre. 

RAILROAD FACILITIES. 

The St. Ijouis & San Francisco RaUj-oad, wliicli 
runs along the nortlieru boundary of the county, 
jiflords ample shipping facilities to the farmer and 
merchant. 



LEAD MINING. 

Deposits of ore are found in limited quantities in 
the eastern portion of the county, which, if devel- 
oped by the capitalist, would amply reward the 
outlay. 

RELIGIOUS, EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL. 

All the different religious denominations are well 
represented among the population, and an elevated 
tone of society prevails. Nearlj^ every congressional 
township is divided into convenient school districts, 
and the public schools are open four months of the 
year in each district and in some six and seven 
months. 

A MEDICINAL SPRING. 

The mineral springs of this county from which 
flows a newly discovered medicinal water, located 
six miles east of tlife county seat, it is thought will 
in time become a watering place site, as quite a 
nuniber of remarkable cures have been accredited 
lately to tlie virtues of tlie water. 

FINANCIAL CONDITION. 

The county is in excellent iinancial condition. 
Taxes are low, and tlic county does not owe one 
dollar of bonded indebtedness. 

POPULATION. 

The population of the county is constantly in- 
creasing, and is now estimated at 1.5,000. 

TOM'NS AM) VILLAGES, 

Tlie principal towns of the county are : 

Cassville, the county seat, a prosperous business 
place ; has four dry goods stores, two drug stores, 
two bl-acksmith shops,. and two weekly newspapers. 

Washburn, another poi;it of importance, situated 
eight miles southwest of Cassville, and sun-ounded 
by a magnificent farming country, lias several en- 
terprising business firms and a good steam flour 
mill. 

Corsicana, situated in the northw^tern part of 
the county, has a good country around it, a good 
grist mill, and a wool carding machine, and several 
dry goods and drug stores, blacksmith shops, etc. 

THE FAR5IING INTEREST 

is in a flourishing condition and considerable atten- 
tion is being i)aid to the introduction of new and 
improved metiiods of farming, and to the importa- 
tion of better strains of stock of all kinds. Farmers 
count on yields of from twenty-five to fifty bushels 
of corn and from fifteen to thirty bushels of wheat 
to tlie acre of well cultivated land. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



83 



BARTON COUNTY. 



Southwestern Missouri offers to the immigi-ant 
many prime advantages of climate, location, soil, 
and other natural inducements to settlement, but 
no portion of the State is more intitiug than Barton 
County, which lies fairly in the center of a splendid 
farm, grazing, fruit and mineral region, that at tlie 
jiresent time is attracting as much popular interest 
as any district in tlie Southwest. 

Barton County lies in the western tier of counties, 
T)ordering upon Kansas, aqd has an area of 580 
square miles, or 375,000 acres. The face of the coun- 
try is much like that of the neighboring country of 
Kansas, about ninety per cent, being graceful ijrairie 
lands, here and there broken by charming little val- 
leys, coursed by clear winding streams, fringed with 
groves of timber. 

THE CHARAOTER OF SOIL. ' 

The son is generally a rich, dark alluvial, nearly 
identical with the prevailing prairie soUs of Illinois, 
with occasional districts of gray and chocolate col- 
ored soil, each and all of them being deep, flexible, 
drj', easily managed, and very productive. In the 
valleys and bottoms, the black alluvial, common to 
aD Uie western bottoms, is from three to six feet 
deep, and absolutely inexhaustible. 

THE TIMBER SUPPLY 

is ample for all local needs, and admirably distrib- 
uted over tlie county, on numerous water courses, 
such as Spring River, the Dry Woods, Pettis, and 
other creeks; which, together with numberless 
clear springs, furnish the county with a never-fail- 
ing supply of water for all purposes. 

COAL AND BUILDING MATERIAL. 
For fuel the settler has only to turn to the almost 
inexhaustible coal fields. Eminent geological au- 
thority estimates the coal measures of the county at 
480 square miles in extent, with the average thick- 
ness of vein at four feet, and a large district under- 
laid with a vein of from six to seven feet thick, and 
of the best quality of soft coal. Here also is found 
a large supply of lime and sandstones, for building 
purposes. 

FRUIT CULTURE. 

As a fruit counti-y. Barton County must always 
take high rank. The dryness and richness of soU, 
equability of the climate, and mean elevation, aU 
give a high measure of excellence to all the fruits 
of this latitude. Apples, cherries and plums, all 
reach perfection here, in size, color, texture and 
flavor. The peach does splendidly, bearing in rich 
profusion its elegant fruit. The apricot, pear and 
ne(;tarine, all do well here, while the grape, both 
wild and tame, is unexcelled; the vigorous and rap- 
idly growing vines being thickly covered with large 
bunches of the luscious fruit, in an abuudan(;e only 
equaled by the great gi-ape-growing country of Cal- 
ifornia. All kinds of small fruit do well here, 
especially the wild blackberry, which grows in a 
profusion and to a size equal to any of the Eastern 
cultivated varieties. 



STAPLE PRODUCTIONS. 

The soil of Barton County will produce in abund- 
ance wheat, oats, corn, rye, flax, barley, castor 
beans, millet and Hungarian, while all the tame 
grasses such as timothy, blue grass, red top and 
clover will grow luxuriantly. For some years large 
amounts of flax and castor beans have been raised, 
for wlucli a ready market can always be had. The 
leading productions are corn, oats and wheat. Of 
the former a large acreage is planted each year, 
and gives a yield only excelled by the great corn- 
producing countries of Illinois and Iowa, and the 
diff'erence there is caused only by the cool nights 
through the growing season here. Oats always yields 
largely, but not being of sufficient value in the 
markets to bear transportation, and corn being 
preferred for feeding, they are not as valuable a 
crop for farmers as corn. But the main crop for all 
farmers, and one that can ])e raised to the best ad- 
vantage is, and always will be, "winter wheat." 
There is no doubt that in Barton is found one of the 
best wheat-producing c-ounties in the Western 
country. When this crop is properly mana^'ed, it 
will average for years at least twentv bushels to the 
acre. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

The fact has been so thoroughly established as to 
become almost an axiom that farming cannot be 
successfully carried on for a series of years when 
attention is devoted exclusively to the growing of 
grain. Grain-growing should always be accom- 
panied by stock-raising, and that country wliich 
affords the best facilities for the production of both 
grain and stock, offers the most inducements to 
settlers. This is the case with Barton and the 
counties adjacent. While to the tiller of the soil 
Barton County offers a rich and productive soil, a 
healthful climate and abundant crops, yet, to the 
stock-raiser she offers greater inducements tlian 
all other classes combined. To the most casual 
observer who is familiar with the location, it must 
be evident that this is a great stock -growing country. 
Thousands of acres of succulent grasses annually 
spring up, mature, and are cut down by the winter 
frosts, only to return to earth to furnish fresh vitality 
to the roots. Thousands of tons of the best of hay 
are annually cut from tlie vacant lands, while the 
material for thousands more yearly goes to waste. 
As evidence that these advantages have long ago 
attracted attention, in the " History of Missouri," 
published in 1876, the writer says : 

" While the agricultural advantages of this county 
" are surpassed by few in the State, yet to stock- 
" raisers it presents extraordinary inducements. 
" Witli a mild climate, that renders but little shelter 
"necessary during any portion of the year; with 
" her broad rolling prairies, covered with a luxuriant 
"growth of grass, that furnishes free pasturage 
"during the summer months, and which, upon the 
"bottoms, remains fresh and gi-ecn all winter, and 
" from which large quantities can be annually cut 
"for a winter's supply; with a soil capable of pro- 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



" ducing iu abundance the grain needed to fatten 
"the stock in winter that feed on the prairies in 
" summer, Barton Countj^ is destined to be one oi 
"the great stock producing counties of tlie West." 
M'hatever may be said of the certainty and profit 
of wheat-growing iu Barton County, tlie coming 
farmer of this superb region of streams, lowland 
forests, and matcliless wild grasses, will be a stock- 
grower. The leadings of nature are in that direc- 
tion, and they will best succeed who follow her. 
Blue grass and white clover are both natural to the 
country, and like red clover and timothy have a 
splendid growth, and in this mild climate make 
perennial pasturage. 

CLIMATE AND HEALTH, 
The climate of Barton County is a benediction. 
It has the mildness of Middle Virginia and Central 
Kentucky, without their humidity. The winters are 
generally dry and open, witli but little snow. Young 
stock of all kinds run at large in the bottoms all 
winter. The summer is long and warm, with cool, 
refreshing nights. While the rainfall is ample, it 
must yet be remembered that the climate is natur- 
ally dry, and the west winds dissipate whatever 
malaria may be generated by decaying vegetation ; 
and there are no swamps or marshes to breed fever 
in this region. 

PKICE OF LAND. 
While in Barton County all these natural advan- 
tages are found, with good schools, chui-ches and 
mills, line farm improvements, prospective rail- 
ways and good society, yet plenty of good land can 
be purchased at from four to seven doUars per 
acre, and, if desired, on long time, with a small pay- 
ment each year. The same lands in Kansas, 
Nebraska, or Minnesota, would sell readily at 100 
per cent, in advance of those prices. But this 
county is in Missouri, and people who are look- 
ing for new homes in the West take little stock iu 
Missouri. Tliei-e has seemed to be an aversion al- 
most as universal as it is unjust to the State and 
people, on the theory that one is damp, swampy 
and sickly, and that the other are a race of 
" Yahoos," Avho think more of cock-fighting, bank- 
robbing, train-wrecking, coon-hunting, and drink- 
ing whisky, than they do of schools, churches, good 
society, law and order, and progress. 

SLANDERS REFUTED. 

But this general prejudice is wrong, and far wide 
of the mark, as a visit to Barton and many other 
counties will clearly show. 

POPULATION AND ITS CHARACTER. 

In Barton County tliere arc al)out 11,000 people, 
ninety per (;ent. of wliom come from the ohl 
Northern and Eastern States, and at least fifty per 
cent, are from Illinois alone. They believe in 
.«cliools, churches, and progressive living generally, 
and are among the most enterprising people to lie 
found in tlie West. In a population of 11,000 there 
are sixty school districts, lifty-nine scliool houses, 
costing upwards of $G0,0O0. An inalienable school 
fund, the income from whicli, apjiortioned in Jan- 
uary, 1880, among tlie differeut districts, was 
$7,206.38 — 3,327 pupils enrolled, upwards of seventy- 
five teachers employed during the year; and witli 



the large apportionment from the State fund each 
year, a good system of public schools is secured. 
There are seven churches, a number of flouring 
and saw mills, good roads, and hundreds of miles 
of good osage orange hedge — in short, nearly every- 
thing that goes to show an enterprising and pro- 
gressive people. 

RAILROADS. 

For railroad communication are found, to the north 
the Missouri, Kansas & Te.xas Ilailwii^', twenty miles 
distant, wliile in the south, within twenty-five miles, 
is tlie Missouri & Western, a branch of the St. Louis 
& San Francisco Railway. The Fort Scott & Mem- 
phis is already completed to the county line in the 
northwest and will soon reach Lamar, the county 
seat, on its way to Springfield, tlms giving a 
through line, with the best raUroad connections iu 
the Southwest. 

FINANCIAL CONDITION. 

With all these natural and artificial advantages. 
Barton County is comparatively out of debt ; at least 
she has no i-ailroad debt. There are $37,000 of Fund- 
ing Bonds outstanding, the interest on whicli is 
always promptly paid, and tlie county could almost 
any day, if necessary, wipe out her entire indebted- 
ness. Taxation is merely nominal and county scrip 
is as good as greenbacks. 

THE COJTSTY SEAT. 

Lamar is tlie county seat of Barton, and located 
near the center of the county. The population is 
about 1,000, with a live, energetic class of business 
men, and is improving rapidly. All classes of busi- 
ness, and the different professions, are well repre- 
sented. Tliere are three good churches, and the 
different organizations are in a flourishing condi- 
tion. The Lamar Iligli School is deserving of special 
mention. It is a substantial brick buUding, witli a 
capacity for seating 500 pupils. A full corps of 
teachers are employed, and Lamar has one of the 
best schools in the Southwest. Adjoining the town 
is a large nursery, occupying one hundred and sixty 
acres of ground, where all the different kinds of fruit 
trees can be had at reasonable prices. There are 
also several other towns in the county which offer 
superior business opportunities. 

LET IMMIGRANTS. CONSIDER. 

In conclusion it maybe said that in Barton County 
great attention has been paid to the cause of educa- 
tion. Nearly every district has a school house that 
would be considered a credit to any community. 
There is a county school fund, the interest from 
which, with the State fund, insures good scliools 
throughout the county. Society is good, and all 
church organizations well sustained. Disturbances 
of the peace are seldom known, and the jail is gen- 
erally empty, aiid but few cases on the criminal 
docket, which facts are the strongest evidences that 
the people arc law-abiding citizens. 

With a fine climate, and a soil that ])roduces in 
abundance not only all kinds of grain, but also all 
the fruits that are raised outside of a tropical re- 
gion, and fine prairie lands that are as cheap as any- 
where else iu the western country. Barton County 
offers great inducements to persons seeking new 
homes iu the West. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



85 



BATES COUNTY. 



Bates County is situated on the western border of 
Missouri, and is the third county south of the Mis- 
souri River, on tlie Kansas line. It is bounded on 
tlie north by Cass County, on the east by Henry and 
St. Clair Counties, on the south by Vernon County, 
and on tlie west by Linn County, Kansas. It is about 
thirty miles square, and its area is a little less than 
:900 square miles. 

Grand River, a tributary of the Osage, forms a 
part of the northern boundary, and the Osage forms 
a part of the southern boundary. The Marais des 
Cygnes, a tributaiy of the latter stream, passing 
througli the county from northwest to southeast, 
cutting off about one -fifth of the territory in the 
southwest corner. 

SOIL AND PRODUCTS. 

The county is mostly high, undulating prairie, 
with a small portion of low, flat laud along some of 
the streams. 

Beautiful mounds, varying in height from 100 to 
200 feet, now and then relieve the monotony of the 
rolling prairie, and the low lands along the streams 
are, for the most part, covered with a heavy growth 
of valuab'le timber, consisting of ash, elm, oak, wal- 
nut, hickory, maple, mulberry and pecan, and many 
other varieties of less value. 

A large portion of the laud, being unoccupied, 
offers special inducements to farmers wishing to 
raise stock; thousands of acres of "non-resident 
lands" affording sustenance for herds free of ex- 
pense for eight or nine months iu the year. 

The soil being, for the most part, underlaid with 
limestone, cannot be surpassed in fertility by any 
county west of the Mississippi. It is well adapted 
to the growth of blue grass, timothy, clover and 
other tame grasses. From forty to seventy-five 
bushels of well matured corn is produced each year 
on every acre properly cultivated, and the average 
yield of wheat is from fifteen to thirty bushels per 
acre, and otlier small grain in proportion. Vege- 
tables of all kinds are cultivated with success, and 
those who have tried it, say that tobbacco of fine 
quality can be grown to advantage ; but little or 
none is raised, on account of distance to mai-ket, 
there being no manufactory near. 

Castor beans and flax have i)roved to be very 
remunerative to those who have tried them. 

The climate being temperate, the winters short 
and mild, fruit of all kinds does well. Large or- 
chards of apple and peach trees and fine vineyards 
of grapes may be found in all parts of the county, 
which yield an abundant crop almost every year. 

RAILROADS. 

The Missouri, Kansas & Texas is the only rail- 
road at present passing through the county, and 
affords convenient transportation for the eastern 
and southeastern portion. But the people of this 
county manifest a spirit of enterprise iu the way of 
building up the county and securing railroads that is 
praiseworthy. About $30,000 and the right of way 



has been given by the people of Bates County to the 
Lexington & Southern Railroad, a branch of the 
Missouri Pacific, commencing at Pleasant Hill and 
running south through the western tier of Missouri 
counties, and the road now is under contract and iu 
process of construction, with a fair prospect of 
being completed to the southern border of the 
county by the 4th pf July, 1880. 

The Burlington & Southwestern Railroad also 
owns an old road-bed running north and south 
through the center of the county, which will be 
ironed and put in operation as soon as that road can 
extend its line to Kansas City. 

The Missouri Central Railroad, now being con- 
structed westward from Jefferson City, will prob- 
ably pass through the county from east to west. 

The wagon-roads of the county ore naturally good 
and are genei-ally kept i!i good condition. 

MINERALS. 

A good quality of coal is found iu veins thick 
enough to work in all parts of the county. In the 
southwest part of the county there is au area ©f one 
hundred square miles which is underlaid with a coal 
vein-near the surface averaging five feet iu thickness, 
and Professor Broadhead, in his geological survey 
of Missouri, speaking of Bates County, says: "We 
may calculate the amount of coal in this county to 
be 5,397,748,857 tons." 

Experts who have visited these fields have pro- 
nounced the coal equal in quality to that of the 
East. 

FINANCIAL CONDITION AND SCHOOLS. 

The county is entirely free from debts of any 
nature wliatever, and as the Constitution of the State 
prohibits counties from donating to or taking stock 
in railroads, this county will remain as it now is, 
unencumbered with sucli debts. It has good public 
buildings that will stand for many years without 
addition, which are amply commodious for all pur- 
poses. 

Cash on liand in the treasury at last settlement 
Avas about .^17,000, and all demands against the coun- 
ty paid. 

Tlie common school and township or district 
funds amount to over $100,000, which is constantly 
increasing from fines and other sources, which is 
loaned *.t ten per cent., with good bond and first 
mortgage, and the interest promptly collected and 
annually distributed among the schools of the 
county, for paying teachers ; and besides the county 
receives from the State over p,000 annually, which 
is also used for paying teachers. 

Hence there is seldom any levy for school pur- 
poses, except for incidental expenses. 

There are 135 organized school districts, in nearly 
all of which are new and substantial school houses 
already paid for. And, besides the public schools, 
there is at Butler, the county seat, a large two-story 
brick academy, built by ijrivate enterprise, that will 
accommodate 100, or more, advanced pupils. 1 1 has 



86 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



:i good corps of teachers, and is in a flourishing 
condition. 

BUTLER, THE COUNTY SEAT, 
is a city of about 2,300 inhabitants, situated at the 
center of the county, and built entirely since the 
war. 

The large three-story brick court house, which 
stands in the center of the town, Mith its mansard 
roof and cupola, can be seen for miles in every 
direction. 

There are, in Butler, two three-story brick hotels 
and thi-ee two-stoiy frame hotels; twenty-five two- 
story brick business houses, five cliurches, three 
flouring mills and one woolen mill. Besides, there 
ai-e two two-story brick public school buildings that 
will accommodate 800 pupils, and one frame build- 
ing for colored children, which is amply sufficient 
for all present necessities. 

It has a good town hall for lectures and concerts, 
and four weekly newspapers. The city is growing 
rapidly, and has almost doubled its popiilation in 
the last four years, and at present there arc no less 
than fifty new dwelling houses being built. 

Besides the county seat, there are, throughout 
the county, where a great deal of business is done, 
other smaller towns. 

Papinville, with a population of 500, in the south- 
ern part, has a fine flouring mill and about a dozen 
business houses. 

RockviUe, with a population of 300, is in the south- 
east part of the county, on the Missouri, Kansas & 
Texas Railroad. 



In the southwest are Rich Hill, New Home and 
"Walnut, in the celebrated coal region. 

In the northern part of the county are .Johnstown, 
Altona and Crescent ITill. 

PRICES OF LAND, ETC. 

Bates County is destined to become rich and pros- 
perous. Its natural resources cannot be suii^assed. 
Land is at present cheap, and is increasing in value 
every day. Good unimproved farming lands can be 
bought at fi'om five to ten doUars an acre, and im- 
proved farms at from ten to thirty dollars an acre. 
Coal lands have sold as high as fifty dollars an acre. 

A constant immigration of good substantial citi- 
zens is coming in, and the population has increased 
from 17,000 to about 24,000 in four years, and at the 
same rate but a few years Avill elapse before every 
acre of available land will be iindcr cultivation, and 
the price of land considerably enhanced. 

Bates County needs manufactories, and has the 
fuel and water necessary. Cheese factories, can- 
ning factories, wagon, carriage and plow factories, 
breweries, fruit distilleries, and oil mills for working 
up our castor beans and flaxseed, would do well 
here. 

The rci^ources of the county may be shown by a 
few statistics : The corn raised in 1S79 amounted to 
7,200,000 bushels, valued at $1,080,000; 12,000 beeves 
were fed for the market, which, at fifty dollars 
each, wei-e worth .$600,000; and the total of mules 
and hogs shipped from the county footed up 
$160,000. 



BENTON COUNTY. 



Benton County is situated in the southern tier of 
counties which form that portion of the State known 
as Central Missouri. It lies immediately south of 
Pettis County, and comprises 720 square miles. 

WATER COURSES. 
The Osage River, which is navigable a great por- 
tion of the year, runs centrally through the county 
from west to east, with the following tribiataries, 
viz. : Grand River, Big and Little Tebo, Cole Camp 
and Buffalo Creeks on the north, and Pomme de 
Terre, Hogles, Turkey and Big and Little Deer 
Creeks on the south side, each of which streams 
furnishes an abundance of water and water-t)Ower 
for all kinds of manufactures. 

THE SOIL. 

The greater portion of the county north of the 
Osage River is prairie of excellent quality, which is 
being settled up with a thrifty, energetic class of 
l)eople from the Northern and Eastern States. 

The southern portion of the county, with the ex- 
(teption of the river and creek bottoms, is generally 
hilly and broken. The soil of these bottoms is the 
finest farming lands in the AVest, and a large per- 
centage of the hill and ridge lands are very pro- 
ductive. Unimproved 



LANDS CAN BE PURCHASED 

at from four to eight dollars per acre; improved 
farms at from five to twenty dollars per acre. A 
large quantity of land is subject to pre-emption 
and to entry at Government price, one dollar and 
twenty-five cents per acre. 

ITS TOWNS. 

Warsaw, the county seat, is situated on the north 
bank of the Osage River, and is thirty-eight miles 
due south of Sedalia. It has a population of between 
500 and 700, and is incorporated as a city of the 
fourth class. Warsaw has a good local trade, and 
with the railroad from Sedalia completed, will com- 
mand not only the trade of Benton County, but also 
the trade of Hickory and portions of Polk, Dallas, 
Camden, Cedar and St. Clair, and will prove to be 
one of the best localities in the State for aU branches 
of business. 

Cole Camp, Lincoln and Fort Lyon, are thriving 
towns in the northern portion of the county, while 
Fairfield, Mt. View and Duroc, are excellent local 
trading points on the south side of the Osage River. 

MINERALS. 

Benton County may justly 1)C classed as one of the 
richest mineral counties in the State. I^ead and 



Hand-Book or Missouri. 



87 



iron ores aboiinil in great quantities along the 
Osage River and its tributaries. The lead is of a 
very soft quality, commanding the best price in the 
market. 

The iron ores consist of the flnest qualities of 
blue specular, red and brown hematites and lini- 
mites. Stone coal has been found in a number of 
places in the county; but the timber being so plen- 
tiful and clieap tliere has been little, or no demand 
for coal, for which reasons the banks have never 
been opened and operated. 

TIMBER. 

The river and creek bottoms are lieavily timbered 
with walnut, hickory, ash, maple, hackberry, syca- 
more and all kinds of oak, rendering fuel and 
charcoal and timber for manufacturing purposes 
extremely cheap. 

PRODUCTS. 
Wheat, corn, oats, barley, and all other products 
of this climate, as well as the various grasses, grow 
luxuriantly. The bottoms and timbered lands are 
particularly adapted to the cultivation and raising 
of wheat and corn. The wheat grown on these 
lands is large and plump, and brings in the market 
at least ten cents per bushel more than wheat 
raised in the prairies. 

STOCK. 

As a stock-raising country Benton County cannot 
be surpassed. All of tlie south side of the river is 
well watered, and the nutritious Mild grasses grow 
as well in the bottoms, the timbered portions and 
the hills as on the prairies. Grazing in this portion 
■of the county is free to all the inhabitants. 

MINERAL WATERS. 

Two sulphur springs, containing healing and cu- 
rative properties inferior to none in the West, fur- 



nish excellent summer resorts for hundreds of our 
home ijeople, and great numbers from adjoining 
counties. Tlie Clark Sulphur Springs, the most 
popular, are located live miles and the'White Sul- 
phur Springs eight miles from AYarsaw. 

BUILDING STONE. 

There are many kinds of fine building stones of the 
best quality througliout tlie county, and one qiiarry 
of granite has been found about one and a half 
miles northwest of Warsaw. 

RAILROADS. 

There is no railroad completed through the county 
yet, but track-laying is in progress on the Sedalia, 
Warsaw & Southern Railway, which will be com- 
pleted and the cars running to Warsaw on or before 
the 1st day of July, 1880. The Osage Valley & 
Southern Kansas Railroad will be completed to 
Versailles, iji Morgan County, in a few weeks, and 
will then be continued tlirough Benton County. 

POPULATION AND SOCIETY. 

Benton County has between 13,000 and 14,000 in- 
liabilauts, made up of people from every State in the 
Union, those from New Yoi'k, Ohio, Indiana, Penn- 
sylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Kansas 
predominating, together with a large German settle- 
ment. Tliey are energetic, thrift)-, open, frank, hos- 
pitable people, with doors ever open with a warm 
Melcome to strangers, and to all w!io desire to locate 
with them. 

The county is divided into eighty-seven school 
districts. Each district has at least one good, 
comfortable school house, and from two to three 
churches. The school law is rigidly enforced by the 
people themselves, and excellent schools are being 
l)uilt up all over the county. In fact, a complete 
education maj- be had in many of the school dis- 
tricts. 



BOLLINGER COUNTY. 



Bollinger County is situated in Southeast Mis- 
souri, one hundred and twenty-five miles south of 
St. Louis, and thirty miles west of the Blississippi 
River. The St. Louis, Iron' Mountain & Southern 
Railway runs directly through the center of the 
county, cutting it diagonally' — entering at the 
northwest corner and leaving at tlie southeast; is 
bounded by Perry County on the north. Cape Gi- 
rardeau on the east, Wayne and Madison on the 
west, Stoddard and a part of Wayne on the south. 

AREA, POPULATION, FINANCES AND 
SCHOOLS. 

The area of the county is 381,081 acres, and is 
valued, with improvements, at $2,000,000. The pop- 
ulation is estimated at 10,000 inhabitants, all white 
•except twenty-five or thirty. The county has no 



debt; taxes are exceedingly light, in consequence 
of the low assessment of property and the small 
percentage on the dollar — it being about one and 
one -fourth cents on the dollar, or $1.25 on the 
$100. The school fund is the largest in the State, 
jn proportion to the area and population of the 
countj', it being a fraction over $40,000. The same 
is loaned by the County Court at ten per cent., the 
interest is payable annually, which is distributed 
to the districts throughout the county, enabhng each 
school district to have a school fi-om four to six 
months without the least perceptible burden of 
taxation. 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS. 

The general surface of the county is broken and 
rather hilly, though not I'ough nor mountainous ; the 
lands are usually susceptible of cultivation. 



8S 



Hand-Book or Missouri. 



Xo county in the State is, perhaps, better -watered 
than Bollinger. Water-courses and springs of the 
purest water are innumerable. The countiy is truly 
romantic, and travelers have often said that, scenes 
and landscapes Viere exist, which, upon canvas, 
would rival in beauty and scenic show, those of the 
Shenandoah, Hudson and Cheyenne. Educated ag- 
riculturists will some day make Bollinger County 
one of the fairest counties in the State. The princi- 
pal streams, which afford clear, swift-running water 
all the year round, are Big and Little Whitewater, 
Castor River, Hurricane, Perkins' Creek, Big and 
Little Crooked Creeks, with others of less impor- 
tance. The entire county is very finely watered, 
and building sites are numerous. Hard-by are 
never failing springs. 

CIIAKACTEli OF SOIL AXD AGRICULTURAL 
ADVANTAGES. 

In this county are found several kinds of soil — the 
black and mulatto alluvial, a grey, pipeish soil of a 
clayey character, and the yellow loam. Each of these 
soils are peculiarly adapted to (jertain kinds of cul- 
tivation, as well as products. The uplands are loose 
and loamy; they lie between the water courses, and 
in many instances are a second bottom or table land. 
These lands are highly suited to the raising of wheat, 
in fact, produce the very best of wheat, and com- 
pare favorably with the lands of Cape Girardeau and 
Perry Counties, so famous for line wheat-growing. 

It can be safely said that no county in Southeast 
Missouri has a finer and better variety of soil, and 
not one more susceptible of a diversified agricul- 
tural development. Some excel this in a particular 
way: as Cape Girardeau is a thorough \vheat-gix)w- 
ing county, Mississippi is par excellent fur corn, 
Dunklin for cotton, and so on; but for a combina- 
tion of agricultural advantages and diversities Boll- 
inger is not easily surpassed. A specially large 
inheritance froni nature is seldom versatile and at- 
tractive, and it is only when she modestly distrib- 
utes her blessings that all arc best provided for, as 
well as best pleased. 

The subsoil throughout the county is of a clayey 
nature, though along the creeks it is sometimes of a 
sandy character. 

Wheat ranges from ten to thirty bushels per acre ; 
corn from twenty-five to seventy-five bushels per 
acre; oats from twenty-five to sixty bushels per 
acre; rye from ten to twenty-five bushels per acre; 
buckwheat and barley generally do well. Every 
variety of clover and grasses are of the easiest cul- 
tivation. Blue grass, white clover and other fine 
stock grasses fire indigenous. 

No complaint can be made against the productive- 
ness of the soil — anything like careful and enterpris- 
ing farming will almost in every instance assure an 
average crop. 

The seasons are surprisingly regular, there having 
been but one failure mthin the last forty years, and 
that M'as only partial. No corn was produced. 

TIMBER. 

The timber in the county is good in quality and 
variety— oak, ash, hickory, walnut, po^jlar, beech, 
pine and sassafras are the most common growths. 
Much of the valuable timber is still unmolested. 



although a great deal has been vised by tlie mills 
and factories.' 

There are five or six saw mills, and aljout the 
same number of grist mills. The milling interest, 
however, has been sadly neglected. Big White- 
water and Castor Rivers afford some of the very 
finest sites for mills; every advantage that could be 
desired is at hand ; all that is wanted is enterprising 
mill men. They are large streams, and furnish a 
vast deal of water the year around. The fall, banks 
and solid rock bottoms make them extraordinary in 
the way of furnishing Avater-power. The very best 
inducements are in this county to~mill men, for 
water or steam mills. 

HORTICULTURE. 

■ In this kind of land culture but little has been at- 
tempted; therefore but little has been done. The 
climate being mild and early, the land rich and so 
wonderfully diversified, but little doubt can be en- 
tertained as to the success of the pursuit. The gar- 
dens of farmers are e:!ccellent; in them may be 
found the finest of early cabbages, peas, beans, let- 
tuce, radishes, in fact all kinds of garden vegetables. 
The f avoi-able location to one of the largest and best 
markets in the West is a very strong incentive to a 
trial of this very profitable method of tilling the soil. 

FRUITS. 

Bollinger is especially adapted to fruit-growing. 
Possessed of a mild climate, the winters are seldom 
of such severity as to destroy the entire crop. The 
ridges and uplands are preferable for fruit-growing 
to the valleys and bottom lands, as being dryer and 
less influenced by the cold damp moisture of spring, 
frost seldom interferring with an orchard when 
planted on high ground. 

The principal varieties of fruit are apples, pears, 
peaches, plums and cherries. The culture of apples 
perhaps, commands the most attention, and is the 
most profitable. 

Peaches — of which there is a large and choice 
variety — are successfully and profitably grown, sel- 
dom failing to retui-n a fair croi), though some j-ears 
ai-e a failure ; l)ut apples are always sure, and usu- 
ally profitable. Frnit-grov/ing is rapidly assuming 
a prominent jjosition in this county. 

One of the fruit-growers of the county gathered a 
crop from eighty peach trees, planted on less than 
two acres, from which he realized a net profit of 
$457; and that from five acres of ground, three in 
small fruit — strawberries, raspberries and grapes — 
his net profits were over $1,100 in one season. The 
entire line of berries is produced easily and in 
abundance. This is pre-eminently a fruit-growing 
county. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

Those who have engaged in the business of stock- 
raising, have been in every particulai- successful. 
But few have paid anything like strict attention to 
the occupation of stock-growing. The majority of 
farmers heretofore have been content with the rais- 
ing of horses, mules, cattle, hogs, and sheep in a 
general way. 

The introduction of a better stock gives per- 
manent encouragement generally to the raising of 
stock, wliicli will be salable in any market. 



Hand-Book of Missouki. 



89 



Sheep -raising is exciting more attention than any 
Other braneli of tlie business. So much of tlie lands 
being so admirably suited for pasturing purposes, 
that it makes the countj^ exceptional in this par- 
ticular. Besides, slieep are frequently left to seek 
their own living upon tlie v.ild ranges at all .seasons. 

The .surface being broken by hills, valleys inter- 
vening — and numerous streams of the clearest 
waters, with cold, icy springs flo^ving out the hill- 
sides — constitute and make a country unrivaled for 
dairies. Cows are exceedingly thrifty and healthy, 
and not one single objection can be raised against 
this being a country second to none for butter 
making, cheese manufacturing, and a general dairy 
business. 

ATTRACTIVE MINEKAL RESOURCES. 

The mineral resources of Bollinger County have 
long been considered by prospectors and metal- 
lurgists as of great value and importance. Iron, 
lead, kaolin, manganese, zinc, earth paint and build- 
ing stone exist, and have been discovered in large 
quantities, 

The blue and brown hematite are the most prom- 
inent iron ores in the county. Tlie mining interest 
and the development of mines opened are assuredly 
in their infancy. From 1871 to 1874 considerable 
activity was manifested in the direction of iron. 

Thus the iron interest at one time promised to 
become a very important business in this county, 
but the panic which struck the entire country in 
1873, settled like death upon all manufacturing 
interests, which nccessarilj' discontinued all raining 
entei-prises, and speculations of all kinds were 
stopped. The outlook is at present that the owners 
of iron lands will soon resume work again, when it 
is believed that Bollinger County will take a leading 
place in the counties of Southeast Missouri, espe- 
cially as an ifon-producing county. 

Quite a lively and important business is that of 
mining and shipping kaolin. Several valuable mines 
have been opened; the quality is estimated bj' 
potters as being very good. There seems to be anj' 
amount of it, and little doubt can be entertained but 
that the mining and manufacturing of kaolin will 
become an important factor in the wealth of the 
county. Potters of Eastern cities have examined 
several of the best banks and pro;iounced the clay 
good, and expressed themselves to the effect that 
but a short time would intervene between now and 
the time when manufacturing establishments would 
be erected to work and turn the raw material into 
marketable ware. This clay has been thoroughly 
tested, and out of it is produced elegant, white por- 
celain ware. 

Liead and silver have been found in small quanti- 
ties. A very good prospect of silver is said to have 
been discovered on land near Marquand, and steps 
were taken to ascertain and develop the truth of 
the indications, but the hard times ^vhich set in 
in 1873 brought all work to a close, and nothing has 
since been done. ' 

CHURCHES AND MORAL STATUS. 

The religious element of the people is represented 
by nearly all the denominations— the Methodist, 
Presbyterian, Christian and Catholic Churches. 



There are thirty-five or more in the county; besides, 
religious services are frequently held in many of the 
school houses. 

The moral status of the county may be regarded 
as excellent. There are but- two saloons in the 
county, and not a single gambling table or device 
within its borders. Ko horse racing, no whisky 
distilleries, no breweries, and, in fact, nothing that 
has a special tendency to demoralize or debase its 
population. The criminal record is exceedingly 
light, the costs for criminal prosecution being pro- 
poi'tionately easy. 

PRINCIPAL TOWNS. 

Marble Hill is the county seat, and is located near 
the center of the county, about one-half of a mile 
from Lutesville, a station on the Iron Mountain 
Railway, 133 miles from St. Louis. The population 
is about 500. The town, in the main, is well built, 
the majority of the houses being frame. The i)rin- 
cipal buildings are a brick court house, two churches, 
a large frame school house, three stores of gener-al 
merchandise, two drug stoi-es, one saloon, two 
blacksmith shops, a cabinet shop, Masonic hall and 
two newspapers. 

Lutesville, a small, l)ut thriving, village, is located 
directly on the railroad. The main houses consist 
of a splendid church, three dry goods stores, one 
drug store, one large hardware store, -shoe shop, 
and other smaller places of business. The popula 
tion of the town is near 500. The society is good 
thei-e being an excellent school house, in which a 
good school is kept the greater part of the year 
The town is growing, and will in a few yeai-s, from 
present indications, be a jilace of much spirit and 
enterprise. 

Marble Hill and this place ai-e only one-half mile 
apart, and might, in fact, be regarded as the same 
place. 

There are several other small villages scattered 
over the county, in all of which more or l€ss business 
is done, each having a post-office. Laflin, Glen 
Allen and Bessville, are situated on the railway. 
Patton and Sedgwickville are in the northern part 
of the county; Vinemount and Bollinger Mills in 
the southern. These constitute the towns of the 
county, which are in every respect apace with the 
villages of adjoining counties. 

PRICE OF LAND. 

Lands can be bought for from one to fifteen dollars 
per acre. These lands are all adapted to some kind 
of agricultural use. Hundreds of acres are held in 
readiness for sale. Purchasers and those seeking 
homes can go nowhere with faii-er hopes of obtaining 
what they want, with greater certainty, than in this 
county. The terms are easy in almost every in- 
stance. Taxes being so low, and no bonded indebt- 
edness, no county or country can afford better 
inducements to immigrants than Bollinger. Not 
less than one hundred and twenty-five families have 
come into the county within the last year, the greater 
portion of which have come from Indiana and Ohio. 
Take it all in all— the geographical position, ^ 
great diversity of soil, easy transportation and 
ready market, the social and educational advan- 
tages—the county of Bollinger stands with the first 
in the State. 



90 



Hand-Book of Missouri ■ 



BOONE COUNTY. 



Boone County was settled in 1815, organized in 1820, 
and has an area of 673i square miles— 431,000 acres— 
and an enviable location. Situated in the very heart 
of the Missouri Valley and in the fairest and richest 
portion of Northeastern Missouri, with the Missouri 
Kiver on its southern, and two great trunk railway 
lines upon its northern border, it combines the best 
commercial facilities with such advantages of cli- 
mate, soil, topography, agricultural production and 
mineral resources as few districts in the great West 
can boast. To keep 

IN THE RIGHT LATITUDE 

is a matter of primary importance to the immigrant, 
whether he be eastward or west^vard bound. Boone 
County mainly lies within the same parallels with 
Washington, Cincinnati and San Francisco, and has 
the mUd and equable climate of Maryland, Southern 
Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Middle California. 
The rigors of a Michigan, New York, or Wisconsin 
^vinter and the insufferable humidity of a Mississippi 
summer, are alike unknown in this region, whose 
equable mean of temperature, bright skies, dry at- 
mosphere, clear water, undulating surface and free- 
dom fi-om swamps, marshes and lagoons give as 
high an average of health and longevity to man and 
beast and plant, as any purely agricultural country 
under the sun. A moan elevation of 750 feet above 
the tides, the prevailing southwest winds from the 
plains of Kansas and the " Indian Nation " give tone 
to the atmosphere, dissipate malaria, and, accom- 
pamed by long friendly summers, with breezy days 
and delicious cool nights, short, open, dry winters, 
with slight and transient snow-fall, and golden, 
"lowing spring and autumn seasons, make up a cli- 
mate as healthful as it is delightful. 

The natural drainage of the county is weU nigh 
perfect. A section will cover the cold, wet, dead 
levels of the whole territory. Dry ravines, gulches, 
springs, brooks, branches, and larger streams quick- 
ly carry the sui-i)lus waters of the county into the 
great river upon its southern border. The lacustrine 
deposits of the bluffs and hill districts are the most 
porous of soils and never want for adequate drain- 
age. 

THE TIMBER SUPPLY 

is alike ample and admirable. White, swamp and 
burr oak, white and black walnut, white and blue 
ash, hickory, chen-y, red elm, honey locust, mul 
berry, sugar maple and linden of excellent quality, 
with other valuable commercial woods, abound m 
every division of the county. To these varieties 
may be added cottonwood, willow, hawthornc, com- 
mon water elm, birch, pecan, hackberi-y, ironwood, 
b^kcye, sycamore, box elder, white maple, persim 
i^n, red cedar, etc. Fully eighty per cent, of the 
county was originally covered with forest, and It is 
safe to say tliat forty flvc per cent, is still wooded, 
the supply of limber and fuel being vastly in excess 
of the local needs. Boone County has a 



WATER SUPPLY 

equal to any first-rate agricultural county. The 
entire southerly border of the county (forty 
miles) is washed by the Missouri River. The 
western and northern portions are drained by 
the Perche and Moniteau Creeks and a score of 
tributary streams; the central portion by the 
Hinkson and its branches, the northern portion 
by the upper waters of the Perche and Hinkson, and 
the eastern and southeastern portions by the Bonne 
Femme and Cedar, with a full half hundred feeders. 
Spring brooks by the dozen, and clear, never failing 
rock springs by the hundred supply three-fourths 
of the county Avith purest water, whUe the prairie 
districts are well supplied with wells, cisterns, and 
artificial ponds. 

THE MINERAL RESOURCES 

of this county are chiefly represented by lime and 
freestone, bituminous and cannel coals, mineral 
paints in several colors, a superior quality of 
potter's clay, and valuable mineral waters. There is 
plenty of building stone, hydraulic limestone of 
superior quality being found in inexhaustible beds 
and out-cropping ledges of the cheautean group 
along the Missouri and Perche. White limestone 
(ercritinal) of excellent quality for building uses is 
found in great masses out cropping along the 
Hinkson and its tributaries. The Bonne Femrae 
and Cedar districts are abundant in limestones of 
good quality and ferruginous sandstone, of fine 
quality, for building uses, is found mi the lower 
Hinkson. Coal of good quality, from out -cropping* 
to two hundred feet below the surface, in four 
distinct veins, varying in thickness from one to four 
feet, underlies a full half of the county, and is easily 
worked by " stripping," " drifting " and " shafting." 
The local market^ is supplied at $1.50 per ton at 
the mines and $2.50 per ton in the 'towns. Block 
coal suitable for smelting purijoses is found in the 
centi-al part of the county, and a thirty-inch vein 
of cannal coal has been found on Grindstone Creek. 
Potter's clay is found in quality and quantity to war 
rant extensive manufacturing, and with cheap fuel 
and a broad market should become a source of 
large wealth to the county. 

THE SOILS. . 
The MissouiQ bottoms ( of which there are aoout 
fifty square miles), with the valleys along the 
minor streams, are alluvial from four to fifteen feet 
in depth, of inexhaustible fertility ana admirably 
suited to wheat and corn, of which half a hundred 
successive crops are grown without a sign of dimin- 
ution in yield. The " Elm Lands," of which there 
arc at least twenty thousand acres chiefly along the 
divide between the Perche and Moniteau, have a 
chocolate colored soil from fifteen to thirty inches 
deep, of great richness and versatility, and i)roduce 
splendid crops of everything gro-mi In this latitude. 
The bluff or loess soils of the bluff districts embrace 



Hand-Book of Missouei. 



91 



about seventy square miles, chiefly along tlie Mis 
soun and the middle and lowei' Perche, Hinkson, 
Cedar and Bonne Fexnme, are from ten to one hun 
dred feet in depth, loose and porous in structure, 
nearlj' identical with the world famous loess of the 
Rhine and Nile and with their remarkable combiua 
tion of finely comminuted silica, lime and magnesia 
carbonate, lime phosphate, alumina, etc., make an 
indestructible soil, the finest for fruits, gi'ass, and 
indeed, nearly all domestic vegetation known to 
liusbandry 

The oak soils of tiie county, which in their native 
state are chiefly remarkable for the production of 
white oak and hickory timbei-^hough not so highly 
■esteemed by the farmer as the other soils herein 
named, are yet finely adapted to wheat, tobacco, red 
€lover and fruits, which they produce in great per- 
fection, and in conjunction with a subsoil strong in 
siliceous and organic matter, alumina, etc., will 
prove, in the hands of deep cultivators, of great 
permanent productive value. These lands embrace 
not less than 75,000 acres of the county, and consti- 
tute the hill districts neighboriug to the Pei-clie, 
Hinkson and Cedar Creeks. The pi-aii-ie soil em- 
braces about eighty square miles, mainly in the 
eastern and northern portions of the county, is I'ich 
and flexible, strong in vegetable mould (humus), . 
siliceous and organic matter, alumina and other 
valuable constituents, generally takes the chocolate 
or mulatto shade, is from ten to twenty inches in 
depth, much resembling the elm soil, both in color 
and productive power, and gives a splendid growth 
to corn, oats, field and garden vegetables and the 
grasses. Large districts of rolling woodland, not 
included in the above notes upon soils, are covered 
with a rich growth of oak, elm, ash, hackberry, 
walnut, honey, locust, cherry, etc., have a soil rich 
in vegetable mould, sdica organic matter, lime, 
alumina, etc., possesses many of the best character 
istics of the distinctive soils named, and are clearly 
among the most valualile lands in the county. The 
subsoils of the county are generally rich in siliceous 
marls, are strongly marked with the loess character- 
istics, range from one to one hundred feet in depth, 
slack like quicklime on exposure to frost andatmos 
piiere, and to tlie man who plows deep and cultivates 
llioroughly, are an inexhaustible mine of productive 
wealth which some day will make Boone County, 
and indeed, all North Missouri, the classic ground of 
American husbandry. As a whole, the soils men- 
tioned give the widest range of production. Every 
domestic product of the soil that flourishes between 
the northern limit of the cotton fields and the 
northern Red River, is at home and reaches perfec 
tion m these soils. 

THE HOME OF THE GRAIN-GROWERS. 

Corn, the great staple cereal ot the lower Missouri 
Valley, gives a yield of thirty five to ninety bushels 
per acre, depending upon soil, season and culture, 
and it is safe to estimate the total crop of the county 
for 18S0 at 4,000,000 bushels. 

The south half of the county is largely underlaid 
with limestone, the subsoils are rich in lime, and 
every condition to successful wheat growing obtains 
in high measure. Full 500,000 bushels of white 
winter wheat were grown in the county In 1879, and 
the area in wheat for the coming harvest, with the 
exceptionally flue stand, promises a j-ield of 1,000,000 



bushels. The oak and hickory soils give a yield of 
fourteen to thirty bushels per acre, and with any- 
thing like thorough culture following clover, the 
county would give an average yield of twenty five 
bushels in ordinary seasons. Boone' County cer 
tamly presents a splendid field for ambitious wheat 
growers. Among other field crops, oats, barley and 
rye all do finely here, the former often giving a yield 
of fifty to seventy -five bushels per acre. Broom 
corn makes a fine growth of the finest brush and 
might be made a very profitable crop. Sorghum is 
cultivated with decided profit for local use. Hun- 
garian and millet make a wonderful growth, and are 
in great favor with the best farmers. Up to a recent 
date, 

TOBACCO 

has been a formidable crop here, the dry, warm oak 
soils of the greater elevations producing a very 
superior quality of leaf, which under the treatment 
of old experienced Virginia cultivators made an 
enviable reputation in the great markets. The pro 
duct of the county, 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 pounds, could 
easily be increased 300 per cent., if the demand 
shall again warrant the general culture of this plant. 

FIELD AND GARDEN VEGETABLES 

luxuriate in any part of the soils of this noble 
county, giving generous returns to the cultivator, 
who may gratify his senses with a little paradise of 
vegetables, plants and blooms, with half the labor 
required in the east and north. To the credit of old 
Boone be it said, that no failure of the grain crop is 
recorded in the history of her sixty-five years of 
agi-iculture. Extreme conditions of climate have 
sometimes shortened the export surplus of some ot 
the cereals and grasses, but the bounteous soil has 
never faded to yneld ample supply for the use of tlie 
home, the flocks and herds. 

A PRIME FRUIT COUNTRY. 

It lies within the great fruit belt, and bears most 
of the staple fruits of the medium latitudes in per 
fectiou. It may very appropriately be called the new 
vineland. On the " elm lands," between the Perche 
and Moniteau, are to be'found a wild grape vine 
i twenty-nine inches in circumference at a point 
several feet above the ground. The native forests 
are everywhere festooned with wild grape vines of 
splendid growth, many of tliein evidently a century 
old. Domestic grapes of many varieties are grown 
in profusion at a cost of two cents pev pound, and 
nevei fail of a bounteous crop, Peaches give a fine 
crop three years out of five. Pears do finely over 
strong clay subsoils Several varieties of plums and 
cherries succeed well, on any of the above named 
soils 

THE NATIVE AND DOMESTIC GRASSES. 

Boone County is pre eminently a grass country- 
All the grasses of this great grazing belt attain 
luxuriant growth here. Better still, the soil and 
climate give them a perfection of quality rarely 
attained in other regions. The native prairie grass, 
though not equal in variety to the wild grasses of 
Nebraska (of which one hundred and fifty four va- 
rieties have been catalogued T^y Professor Aughey), 
are yet very numerous, especially on the Grand 
Prairie, and, from early .Ypnl to the last of July, 



92 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



give more flesh to gi-azing animals tlian any of the 
domestic grasses; but they are fast disappearing 
before tlio all -conquering blue grass, and may not 
be named among the ])crmancnt grazing resources. 
Tlie green, luxuriant, nutritious, tenacious blue 
grass is the all-porvading, all-absorbing hci-bage of 
this beautiful herdsman's paradise. The timothy 
meadows of Boone County, though not as extensive 
as in some of the prairie counties further north, are 
equal to the very best in Illinois, the Canadas and 
the Western Reserve. Red clover makes a splendid 
growth here, especially in the oak and hickory soils, 
is very successfully cultivated on the oak land, in 
the southwest part of the county, an<l is becoming 
popular among the farmers of other portions, result- 
ing here, as evciywhere, in enrichment of, and 
lai'ge increase in, the pi-oductive power of the 
lands. 

White clover, like blue grass, is indigenous to th« 
country, flourishes in all the siliceous soils and in 
years of full moisture adds largely to the grazing 
capacity and wealth of the country. Xorthwestern 
Missouri is the paradise 

OI^ THE STOCK-GROWERS, 

and that grand old Boone County is " pretty nigh " 
its " head center." Here are the cheap lands ; here 
the matchless herbage, and clear, plenteous waters ; 
here the forest I'avines, bluffs, gulches and chaparral 
tliat make the flnest natural stock shelter luiown to ■ 
a mihl and equable climate, and these witli cheapest 
transportation to the National juid Union stock- 
3\ards are the things that go into the make-up 
of a royal stock country, not forgetting those 
other essentials — cheap corn and almost perennial 
pasturage. They grow corn lierc at a cost of lifteen 
cents per bushel, and the years are rare that do not 
furnish ten months' grazing for young stock. Only 
a iield of rye and a reservation of the autumn 
growtli of blue grass in the underbrush woodlands 
are necessary to complete a full year's pasturage 
It sliould interest those coming herdsmen, too to 
know that there are none of the climatic rigors of 
the far western pl.ains ; that the good Lord gives this 
region plenteous rainfall; that coal and wood and 
ieucmg timber are " cheap " ; (hat the higlnvavs are 
made, the bridges and scliool houses are built"- that 
there is a sliglit difference between life here and on 
the borders. 

Tiie late Assessor's returns accredit the stock men 
of the county with a total of 9,6S0 horses, 4 "12 
mules, 18,:J25 cattle, 23,275 sheep, and ;i;5,390 swi'.;^ 
Ihis splendid aggregation of domestic animals is 
not made of scrubs and scala^^ags, for these rude 
tribes, like the " bushwhacker" of the genus homo, 
have mamly passed into history 

The feeding herds are all of "good or high grade, 
a large per cent of this stock being bred and fed foi- 
the l^uropean trade. Some of the enterprising 
breeders are introducing Herefords, to meet a fast 
m-owing demand from the ranchmen of ne^^^ prairie 
blat^es and Territories. Hundreds of young thor- 
oughbred short-horn bulls are annually shipped 

Znla tV""'^'' '"• ^'" '''''"' <lo-^tinatron. 'i:' 
poited Jerseys, whose names and t.,,ne are 
known to t^-o continents, are kept and brec here n 
fa..- numbers. i,„ported Cotswolds, Downs r e le" 
ters and Merinos of national fame, grace t i; e ,:; 



of several sheep-breeders, and are giving generous 
infusion of the best blood into many of the local 
flocks. Model Berkshires and rohmd-Cliinas that 
have swept the I'rovincial and National ])rize rings 
maybe found here, and it may be safely said that 
the average standard of cattle, swine and slieep of 
this county is quite as high as in Oliio and Illinois. 
Tliis is the banner mule country of the couljnenland 
the world. Missouri grows more mules tlian all the 
other States and Territories together. Mule-breed- 
ing, growing and feeding for export is a great bus- 
iness in this county, from which not less than two 
thousand are annually exported. Work horses, too, 
are largely raised for the export trade and for " all 
work," the general standard of this stock is quite up 
to the average in most of the other States. 

Cattle, sheep and swine-growing is paying the 
farmers of this region, all the way from twenty-flve 
to forty per cent, where it is pursued with ordinary 
intelligence and discretion. 

Good imjjroved stock farms on the prairies or in 
miscellaneous timber lands can be had at ten to fif- 
teen dollars per acre, or less tlian the cost of perma- 
nent improvements. These farms are well fenced,, 
have buihlings, orchards, meadows, blue grass pas- 
ture, good timlter shelter and water in abundance. 
Hundreds of tine natural sheep randies could be 
selected in the hilly oak land districts along the 
Pei'che and Cedar Creeks, which in the native state 
may be purchased at one dollar to two dollars and 
llfty cents per acre. These lands comlnne dryness of 
soil, splendid drainage and flue slielter, and run4,o 
blue gfass and white clover naturally, as soon as 
they are uiiderbnislicd, and for successful sheep 
husbandry are ecpial to any in the West. Good 
wild grazing lands may be had in the lower 
timber districts and prairies at four to eight doll;u"s 
per acre. A roy.al dairy country is this, with its 
clear rock springs and nutritious grasses ! And yet 
but a single well -conducted butter dairy and not one 
cheese dairy of consequence in all the county. An 
hundred cheese dairymen from AVisconsin and the 
Western Reserve and as many good butter makers 
from Central New York would revolutionize the 
industrial life of the county and add two hundred 
and lifly thousand dollars to its yearly iMcouio. Tlic 

LOW PRICE OF LANDS 

is a sui'iirise to Eastern men who cannot underst;uid 
why good lands here should not be wortli as 
much as similar estates in lUiuois, Indiana or 
Micliigan. Improved farms are offered at eiglit to 
t\veuty-flve dollars per acre, according to soil, loca- 
tion and improvements, the average being less than 
fifteen dollars, and the price asked being almost 
invariably less tlum the cost of the buildings, 
fen-ces, orchards and other improvements. • AVild 
lands range from one to ten dollars per acre, the 
figure generally depending upon soil, topography 
ami location. It seems fabulous that -white oak and 
hickory lands (denuded of their more valuable tim- 
ber) underlaid with coal whose frequent out- 
croppings disclose twenty-four to fifty-inch veins of 
good bituminous coal, and located within five to 
twelve miles of trunk railway lijics, seven to fifteen 
miles of the Missouri River and in the midst of an 
old, rich and well settled countiy, should be begging 
a market at one to two dollars per acre, often selling 
for even less money; and the greater marvel is to 



Hand-Book or Missouri. 



93 



know that these same lands are not a sterile waste 
(there is not a half section of waste land in Boone 
County) but take naturally to blue grass, and are 
excellent wheat, tobacco, clover and fruit lands. 
The same quality of oak lands would sell in South 
Michigan, South Wisconsin and North Indiana any- 
where from twenty to thirty-five dollars per acre in 
the wild state and thirty-five to sixty-five dollars 
improved. So too the improved land of this county 
would in Iowa bring 100 per cent, more ; in Illinois, 
Ohio and ISIichigan 200 per cent, more ; in Xew York 
and Pennsylvania 400 per cent, more, and even in 
Kansas and Nebraska fifty per cent, more than 
here. And why this difference ? That is a question 
that concerns the good people of Boone County and 
Missouri quite as much as the immigrant and land 
buyer. There are too many lands on the market. 
Hundreds of men in this country — as in every 
oftier — went heavily in debt for lands, improve- 
ments and machinery before the panic, confident 
that the high price of stock and i)roduce would 
continue. The later demoralization of land and 
produce values rained and these they must lose all 
or sell for anything they can get. 

The old slave -holding estates were ruined by the 
loss of their personal estate during the war, many 
of the owners being utterly unable to adapt them- 
selves to the new order and their fine landed estates 
are breaking up of their own weight, or going into 
partition for the benefit of creditors. Hundreds of 
once able farmers have lost everything by specula- 
tion in land, live stock, etc. Man)' others have an 
insane longing to sell their property in this beauti- 
ful counti-y and trv their fortunes in Kansas, Colo- 
rado or Texas. Four-fifths of the negroes who were 
worth something to the countrj* under the old sys- 
tem of compulsory labor, have deserted the country, 
are idly lounging about the towns, and are no longer 
a factor in the farm-labor problem. These are some 
of the reasons for the low price of lands. 

The county has 

A CAPITAL FKEE SCHOOL SYSTEM, 
embracing one hundred and five schools, one hun- 
dred and five school-houses; a pei-manent school 
fund of $51,193 with an enrollment of about seven 
thousand school children. The schools are fostered 
by a liberal sentiment, a three and a half niiU tax 
on a valuation of $7,000,000, the interest on the per- 
manent fund, the apportionment from a large State 
school fund and the public fines and penalties. 
Exclusive of the one hundred and five schools men- 
tioned, are fifteen colored schools, of equal gi-ade, 
upported from the above-named revenues. It is 
,:nething to the credit of Boone County intelli- 
gence, ambition and financial ability that a great 
- State University, embracing the Agricultural Col- 
ilege, exiJerimental farm and an admirable Normal 
i,;School is located at the county seat, and that two of 
the leading denominational Female Colleges of the 
State are also located here. The religious advantages 
of the county are of the best order. Eight of the lead- 
ing denominations are represented by sixty-six 
church edifices, and a stUl larger number of relig- 
ious organizations. Every rural neighborhood has 
its church building and service. The presence and 
infiueuce of this strongly organized religious force 
is well displayed in the liigh tone of public and per- 
sonal morals. 



THE COUNTY FINANCES 

are well managed, and taxation iipon a valuation of 
$7,000,000 is not at all burdensome. The indebted- 
ness created by tlie county in aid of railways, gravel 
turnpikes and other puljlic improvements, has been 
greatly reduced, and its funding at a low rate of 
interest, with provisions for a sinking fund for its 
gradual liquidation, was a wise policy. 

COLUMBIA, 

the capital of Boone County, was settled in 1820, 
formally laid out and made the county seat in 
1821, and now has a population of nearly 4,500. It 
has an enviable location near the center of the 
county, in the high roUing wood-lands of the Hink- ' 
son, and is beautifully located. 

THE UNIVEKSITY 

is the distinguishing feature of Columbia. It is on a 
secure basis, its permanent funds and total prop- 
erty being valued at U])wards of $1,000,000, and its 
yearly revenue from all sources between $40,000 and 
$50,000. 

The character of the University is substantially 
based upon the American plan and may be briefly 
summed up as follows : Two gi-oups or departments, 
the Academic and Professional ; each being a col- 
lection of schools, the Academic department being 
the center or nucleus around whit-li tlie Professional 
schools cluster. 

The Academic Schools which are divided into two 
classes, viz: Science and Language, cover substan- 
tiallv the usual course pursued in most first-class 
colleges. 

The Professional Schools include agriculture, 
pedagogics, law, medicine, raining and metallurgy, 
engineering and art. A school of militaiy science 
has recently been established and placed in charge 
of Lieut. Frank P. Blair, Jr., an accomplished officer 
of the United States army, detailed especially for 
military instmiction. 

To the honor of Missouri be it said that by act of 
its Legislature in. 1872 the doors of the University 
were thrown open to women, thus giving recognition 
to the mental equality of the sexes and that other 
doctrine of aU sound philosophy, co-education of 
the sexes. The number of students in attendance 
upon all departments including the School of Min- 
ing, reaches, nearly six hundred. The University is 
fast gi-owing in popular favor and influence, and it is 
not improbable that within the n<2xt two years the 
'present facilities for both theoretical and practical 
instruction will have become inadequate to meet 
the rapidly growing demand for the higher educa- 
tion of the young men and women of Missouri. The 
yearly exijense of schooling here, including matri- 
culation, board, washin^g, fuel, lights, and all inci- 
dentals, is only nominal as compared with Eastern 
coUeges. Under the popular club system the en- 
tire yearly expense need not exceed £110. 

There are in addition to the facilities afforded 
by the University for the education of young 
women, Christian CoUege which offers rare 
educational advantages to young ladies from 
abroad. It was founded by the Christian Church in 
1S.J0, and has ever since been in successful operation. 
Stephens College belongs to the Baptist denomina- 
tion of the State, and is also a woman's coUege. It 



94 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



was founded in 1856 and has ever since been in suc- 
cessful operation. The buildings are of fine archi- 
. lecture, spacious and admirably suited to their p\ir- 
pose, and occupy elegant and ample grounds in a 
beautiful quarter of the town. About one hundred 
and eighty young ladies are attending the present 
session, sixty-five of whom are members of the 
college familj-. 

BlISINESS STANDAKD. 

In Boone County a higli standard of professional 
and commercial honoris the rule. The legal pro- 
fession is honored by some of the strongest men in 
the State, and the commercial men are fully iip to 
the dignity of their professional brethren, and all 
branches of trade are profitably pursued. Manufac- 
turing is yet in its infancy, consisting chiefly of 
flour mills and one or two enterprises devoted to 
the manufacturing of agricultural implements. Of 
the banks and banking business it can be stated 
that the facilities are ample, the capital abundant, 
and the financial conduct of the banks of the best. 
The newspapers of Columbia and of the county at 
large require no extended eulogism. They are ac- 
counted among the best in the State. 

OTHER TOWNS. 

Centralia is a little city of 000 souls, where, at 
the close of the late war, only two or three 
houses stood in a beautiful wilderness of flowers 
and wild grasses. Now they have the Chicago & 
Alton and the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Trunk 
Kailway lines, a branch railway to Columbia, a ca- 
pacious new grain elevator, a couple of churches, a 
bank, prime hotel, and a yearly trade of over $500,- 
000, wliich the i)resent year wUl increase by at least 
forty per cent. It is the heaviest corn shipping 
market on the Alton road, between the Mississippi 
and Missouri Kivers, the daily receipts of the cereal 
often running up to 4,500 bushels, and unless the in- 
dications are iill at fault, close U> 1,000,000 bushels 
will be shipped from this point during 1S80. The 
presence of the two great competing railways gives 
Centralia the best ship])ing advantages ottered in 
the interior of the State, attracting trade in grain 
and live stock from a large and i)roductive region. 
Farms and whd lands sell in this vicinity daily to 
Eastern men, and the town is going ahead rapidly. 
The town has no municipal debt. 

Sturgeon is a substantial town of 1,000 souls on tlie 
western border uf the Grand Prairie. It is located 
on high, dry, rolling land, undulating enough for 
perfect natural drainage ; has a fine supply of pure, 
living well Avater, at twelve to twenty-five feet in 
dei)th, and is surrounded by a rich and very pro- 
ductive farm district, the oak woodlands lying a 
short distance to the west, and a choice district of 
woodland and i)rairie to the northward. A belt of 
rich prairie extends southward several miles to the 
timber lands, while the oi)en prairie extends east- 
ward indefinitely. The town not only has a large 
and prosperous tributary country, settled by an able 
and enterprising class of grain and stock producers, 
but has within itself many of the best elements of 
permanent growth and thrift. The Wabash, St. 
Louis & Pacific Kailway passes through, and the 
Alton line only two miles to the noi'th of town, the 



two lines forming a junction a little to the north- 
west, practically giving the advantage of sharp com- 
peting rates Of transjiortation. Sturgeon has no 
municipal debt, but on the other hand $1,000 surijlus 
in the city treasury. ■ 

HaUsville is a i-Ural hamlet of seventy-five or one 
hundred people, very prettily located in the midst 
of a beautiful park-like district, part prairie and 
part wooded. The surrounding country is rich in 
productive farms and fine farm improvements, and 
HaUsville might easily become a village of five hun- 
dred souls with the proper aid to towna. building. 
They have the Columbia Branch Railway here and 
some first-class men, but other things are needed, 
chief of which is a good flouring and grist mill. 
Such an institution would pay big returns on a rea- 
sonable investment, and the citizens would give lib- 
ei'al material aid to any practical man who would 
build a good mill. 

Brown's Station, where Messrs. Dysart & Gooding 
are annually lifting from their shaft about 7,500 tons 
of coal, nearly all of which is used by the Wabash, 
St. Louis & Pacific road, is also a flourishing place. 

Rocheport is a Missouri River town, of the old- 
time and new. It dates away back to the-aute -rail- 
way period, whem steamboating and some live men, 
and a charming location, gave it importance enough 
to make it a well-nigh successful candidate for the 
honors of the State Capitol. It lies on a beautiful 
plateau above the junction of the Moniteau with the 
Missouri, at the foot of the picturesque river bluffs, 
commands a fine view of the broad Missouri bot- 
toms on the other shore, and is a most inviting old 
city of 1,000 souls, and mainly built in quaint fash- 
ion of the old time. , 

Fifteen miles southeast of Columbia the thriving 
tovm of Ashland, with its 500 inhabitants, is located. 
The town is off the line of railroads, but well con- 
nected by good roads with all business points. 

FANCY STOCK FARMS. 

The record of Boone County would be incomplete 
without at least a passing mention of the magnificent 
stock farms. There are in this county some twenty 
farms of this character operated on a most extensive 
scale, and where the most critical taste can be 
gratified with an inspection of large herds of the 
blue blooded aristocrats of the pasture. The busi- 
ness has been found to be as profitable as in the 
world-renowned blue grass regions of Kentucky, 
with whose representatives at every State fair the 
Boone County herds contest for the premiums with 
an equal division of the honors. 

INDUCEMENTS. 

In conclusion, the wants of the county may 
be stated as follows: Hundreds of Pennsyl- 
vanians are wanted here to buy white oak lands 
(selling at one dollar per acre) and turn them 
into smiling orchards, vineyards, wheat fields and 
sheep ranches. They want some hmidreds of 
Michigan and Oliio men to open sheep ranches 
anywhere on the hill and bluff districts and grow 
fine Merinos for Kansas, Colorado and Texas 
herdsmen who are annually sending $2,000,000 to 
Vermont, Ohio, New York, Michigan and Wisconsin 
for high bred Merino sheep to be used in grading up 
their great herds of native stock. They want dairy- 
men l)y hundreds from the great butter- making 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



95 



districts of New York and Northern Illinois, and the 
cheese -making dLstricts of New York, the Western 
Keserve and Wisconsin — dairymen and dairymaids 
skilled in the greatest industry of the Union — to 
utilize the grasses that are going to waste by the 
side of the unused springs and make new wealth for 
the county. They want fruit-growers fxom the Erie 
Islands, New York and Micliigan to grow up whole 
miles of staple orchards and vineyards on these 
bluils or loess foi-mations to meet an illimitable fruit 
ilemand from the prairies of Dakota, Minnesota and 
Manitoba, which is now almost wholly supplied 
from New York and Michigan. They want Trench- 
men for silk culture in a countiy eminently suited 
to an industry that employs millions of people and 
money, an industry which these same Frenchmen 
are carrj-ing to splendid proportions in the native 
mulberry districts of Southern Kansas. They want 
Germans and Frenchmen by thousands for the 
vintage and wine press. Never a better field than 
Southern Boone County offered for the extensive 
culture of the grape and the manufactiu-e of su- 
perior native wines. The same soil that gives 
flavor and world-wide fame to the fruits and wines 
of the Khine (and a better climate) is here on one 
hundred and fifty square miles of these southern 
exposures and might be transformed into the vine- 



growing wealth and beauty of a new Italy. They 
want wood working machinery and the skilled men 
to run it in working up the native wealth of these 
grand oak, hickory, walnut, maple, cherry and linden 
forests. They need manufacturers of woolen goods, 
leather, wagons, farm machinery, and a thousand 
things for common use that are now made a thousand 
miles away. Here is the timber, the cheap and 
abundant coal, the needed water, the tan -bark, the 
near-neighboring mountains of iron, the beds of 
Kaolin, the superb fire and potter's clay, the brick- 
making material and the stone for building. Above 
aU, here are the inexhaustible resources of soil and 
grazing, and there is room in Boone County for 
20,000 more people in the ways of husbandry. There 
is no better country in America for the intelligent 
immigrant to-day than North Missouri, and espe- 
cially Boone County. It is not a country from 
which men turn away with a sense of loneliness and 
desolation, but a land of pure waters, genial skies, 
bounteous soil and matchless grasses. It is some- 
thing to live in the University county of a great 
State— a land where Apollo may tend flocks and 
Sappho turn dairymaid, singing her sweet songs in 
the shadows of the blue mounds— a land where the 
practical and ideal go han4 in hand to make the 
perfect human life. 



BUCHANAN COUNTY. 



This county is located in the northwestern part of 
the State, and is one of the six counties constituting 
what is kno\vn as the Platte Purchase, a strip of 
country taken from the Indian Territory and an- 
nexed to Missouri by an act of Congress passed in 
1836. It is bounded on the north by Andrew County, 
east by De Kalb and Clinton, south by Platte and 
west by the Missouri Kiver, which separates it from 
the State of Kansas, and contains 272,339 acres. Its 
population was in 1840, 6,237; in 1850, 12,985; in 1860, 
23,861, and in 1870 it was 35,109; of M'hom 33,156 were 
white, and 1,953 were colored; 19,175 were male, and 
15,934 were female ; 28,796 were born in the United 
States, and 6,313 were of foreign birth. 



The first white man that ever visited what is now 
known as Buchanan County, was a Frenchman by 
llie name of Joseph Robideaux, Sr., in 1799. He was 
COTinected at that time with the American Fur Com- 
pany, and he was induced to locate in 1803 on the 
present site of St. Joseph, where he carried on for 
about thirty years a lucrative trade with the In- 
diana. 

In 1&36 Congress annexed to the State of Missouri 
this strip of the then Indian Territory that lay on 
the east side of the Missouri River, and removed the 
Indians to tlie west side of that river, leaving the 
newly acquired territory for the occupancy and set- 
tlement of tlic white people. The county was or- 
ganized February 10, 1839. The county seat was 



located near the center of the county at a place 
called Sparta, on the 25th of May, 1840, and in 1846 it 
was removed to the city of St. Joseph, its present 
site. 

PHYSICAL FEATURES. 

The county is admirably diversified with hill and 
dale, high and steep bluffs, low and gentle declivi- 
ties and gently undulating surfaces. Along tlie 
northwestern line there are wide bottoms, lising by 
gentle slopes into the neighboring hUIs. The coun- 
try drained by the Platte River and its tributaries is 
mostly gently undulating, with low hills near the 
streams. The Missouri bottoms are wide, flat and * 
seldom marshy; nine-tenths of them being arable. 
The Missouri River washes its western boundary for 
about thirty -five miles, and receives Blacksnake,, 
Maiden, Contrary, Lost and some minor creeks. 
Platte River traverses the east central part of the 
county from north to south, receiving from the west 
the One Hundred and Two River, Bee Creek, and 
some smaller streams; and from the east Third 
Fork of Platte and Castile Creeks, and some other 
minor streams. Contrary Creek is so named as it 
runs near and nearly parallel with the Missouri 
River, but in an opposite direction. There are a 
gi-eat many fine and inexhaustible springs in the 
county, and good and abundant water maybe ob- 
tained bj' digging wells. 

The eastern and northern portion of the county, 
near and on the " divide," consists mostly of prairie 
of unsurpassed fertility and beauty, and is a farming 



96 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



paradise. The country near Platte River for several 
miles cast and west, also most of the southern and 
western portions of the county, are heavily timbered. 
The timber on the Platte River and its tributaries is 
oak, Avalnut, elm and hackbei-ry; on the Missouri 
bottoms it is mostly elm, maple and Cottonwood. 
The soil is deep, rich and easily cultivated, and pi-o- 
duces all kinds of grain, grapes, fruit and vegetables 
found in this latitude. 

The lakes form an interesting .and attractive 
feature of this county. Contrary Lake, Ave miles 
southwest of St. Joseph, fed by Contrary Creek, is a 
large body of water, in shape something like a half - 
circle, half a mile Avide and about six miles in 
length. This lake affords an abundant supply of 
perch, bass and other game fish for surrounding 
markets. Last season several thousand young shad 
from the government hatching ponds were put into 
this lake, but sufficient time has not elapsed to 
demonstrate the success of the experiment. It is a 
great resort for pleasure and sport, and fishing with 
hook and line at proper seasons of the year is 
extensively indulged in by citizens and visiting 
strangers. Horseshoe, Muskrat, Lost, Singleton, 
Prairie, Sugar and Marks Lakes all contain an 
abundance of fish. 

AGRI0L7LTURAL PRODUCTS 

are corn, wheat, barley, rye, hemp, tobacco, hogs 
and live stock. Grapes, apples, peaches and small 
fruit are raised extensively, and the grape and wine 
interest has grown into some importance in the 
past few years. 

MINERAL RESOURCES, 

so far as at present developed, consist of an abun- " 
dant supply of building stone and brick clay witli 
indications of conl. 

RAILROAUS. 

An examination of any good map will give an idea 
of St. Joseph as a railroad center, and of the great 
railroad advantages enjoyed by Buchanan County. 
The Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad extends from 
St. Joseph east through tlie' center of the county 
affording direct communication with Chicago by 
that route. The Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Kail- 
way gives direct communication with St. Louis. 
The Atchison Branch of the Hannibal and St. 
Joseph Railroad runs through the western portion 
of the county from St. Joseph to Atchison, Kansas. 
The Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Rail- 
road extends south to Kansas City and north to 
Council Bluffs. A branch of this road runs from St. 
Josepli by way of Hopldns into Iowa, thus affording 
another and competing route to Chicago. The 
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad crosses the 
southern portion of the county. The St. Joseph & 
Denver Railroad extends west into Kansas, connect- 
ing with the Union Pacific at Grand Island in tlie 
State of Nebraska. The Atchison & Nebraska Rail- 
road, with the Missouri Pacific, the Atchison, Topcka 
& Santa Fe Railroad, and the Central Branch of the 
Union Pacific at Atchison, have also direct commu- 
nication with St. Joseph over the iron bridges across 
the Missouri River at St. Joseph and Atchison. The 
' St. Joseph & Des Moines Nari-ow Gauge Railroad 
now nearly completed forty miles to Albany, in 



Gentry County, and soon to be pushed forward to a 
connection with the Iowa system of roads, passes 
through a considerable portion of Buchanan County. 
These make St. Joseph and Buchanan County a 
gi-eat railroad point, and virtually the terminus of 
twelve railroads. Other roads are projected and 
will l)e in due time constructed. 

EXPORTS. 

The exports are mainly corn, wheat, tobacco, 
liemp, barley, rye, cattle and hogs. 



The valuation of the county, according to the 
census of 1870, was $20,000,000. 

PRICE OF LAND. 

Good farms can be purchased at from ten to 
thirty dollars per acre, accoi-ding to locality and 
improvements. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

There are seventy-nine organized sub-districts 
in the county outside the city of St. Joseph. The 
schools arc in a flourishing condition, and the people 
are alive to tlie needs and interest of education. 
Churches are also situated in each township, and 
the spirit manifested in behalf of learning indicates 
a just appreciation of a high social and moral stand- 
ing 

The permanent school fund for the county is 
$68,000, which is loaned out to the citizens of the 
county at ten per cent, interest per annum, and is 
secured by deeds of trust upon real property, and 
personal security as well; and the interest- is 
promptly met at maturity. The taxation for school 
purposes is forty cents on the one hundred dollars 
of valuation. The county receives only her propor- 
tion of the interest on the school fund, the greater 
portion of which is utilized by tlie city of St. Joseph 
for school purposes becaiise of her larger population. 

TOWNS OUTSIDE OP ST. JOSEPH. 

HaUeck was formerly called Taos. It is fourteen 
miles south of St. Joseph and has a population of 
about 300. The depot is at AV'allace, a town on the 
Chicago, , Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, a few 
miles distant. Ilalleck has one store, one cooper 
shop, one cliurch and one hotel, and being so near 
and contiguous to Wallace, that they may be con- 
sidered one place, or twins, situated in the best 
ftgriciiltural part of the county. The vAnei feature 
of Hallcck is its fine and extensive flouring mill. 

De Kalb. — This town was fonnerlv culled Bloom - 
ington. It is an old settled place, well improved, 
and has a population of about 600. It is eleven 
miles west of Winthrop and the same distance 
southwest of St. Joseph, and is located on the 
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad. It is a 
place of some business importance, well suiJiilied 
with churches and schools, and the people are 
orderly, kind and hospitable. 

Rushville is situated on the Kansas City, St. Joe 
»t Council Bluffs RaUi'oad, fifteen miles southwest 
of St. Joseph, Tlie Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 
Railroad also passes through it, so that it has plenty 
of railroad facilities. It is well supplied Avith 
cliurches and schools, and considerable business is 



Hand-Book of Missouki'. 



97 



transacted. The population is about 500, and it is 
the oldest town in tlie county. 

Winthrop is a new town, twenty mUes southwest 
of St. Joseph, on the line of tlie Kansas City, St. 
Josepli & Council IMufFs Railroad and on the Mis- 
souri River opposite the city of Atcliison, in the 
State of Kansas. It has recently sprung up as a 
place of considerable importance and has a popula- 
tion of about 1,200. The locating at this place of one 
of the largest pork packing houses anywhere to be 
found in all the West, has given an impetus to busi- 
ness enterprise tliat is most remarkable. It is an 
enterprise started by some English capitalists, and 
they ship the products of tlieir immense business 
direct to the foreign markets. The town is rapidly 
advancing in population, and business of all kinds 
is active and prosperous. 



Agency is located ou the AVabash, St. Louis & 
Pacific Railway, twelve miles southeast of St. 
Joseph, at the crossing of Platte River. It is 
a thriving town of about 700 inhabitants. It was 
in early times an Indian agency and a point 
of considerable importance. It derives its name 
fi-ora that fact. It has a steam flouring mill, a saw 
mill and several stores. The Platte River can be 
hei-e utilized for manufacturing purposes. 

Saxton is a flourishing hamlet in this county, six 
miles east of St. Joseph, on the Hannibal & St. Joe 
Railroad. 

A complete description of the city of St. Joseph, 
the principal town of Buchanan County, and one of 
the three gi-eat cities of the State, will be found in 
another part of this book. 



BUTLER COUNTY. 



Butler County is bounded on the nortli by Wayne 
County, on the east by St. Francois River, on the 
south by the Arkansas line and on the west by Rip- 
ley County. It contains about 1,000 square miles, 
and has a population of aljout 6,000. 

Poplar Bluff, the county seat, is a thriving town of 
about 1,000 inhabitants, situated on the west bank 
of the Big Black River, and at tlie junction of the St. 
Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern and Cairo, Arkan- 
sas & Texas Railways. 

The county is 

WELL WATERED. 

The St. Francois River, running from north to south 
washing its entire eastern border. Big Black River 
passes tlu'ough the center of the county from north 
to south, a distance of thirty-five miles. Besides 
these there are Little Black River, Cane Creek, Ten 
Mile Creek, Beaverdam, Indian Creek, and numer- 
ous otlMjr smaller streams. Big Black River is nav- 
igable as far up as Poplar Bluff. 

There is, perhaps, no country in the West surpass- 
ing this for its great varietj- and fine forests of tim- 
ber. Pine, poplar, walnut, cherry, maple, ash, oak, 
hickory, gum, cypress, etc., grow i-n great abundance 
here. 

THE MINERAL RESOURCES 

are almost wholly undeveloped, but the prospects 
are favorable in many parts of the county for paying 
deposits of iron and perhaps other minerals. 

CHARACTER OF LAND. 

There are four grades of land found here: The 
low bottoms of the rivers and creeks, the second 
benches, the flat woods, or barrens, and the hills. 
Under proper cult\ire the vai-ious products common 
to this climate grow luxuriantly and yield bountiful 
crops. 

The almost unlimited amount of wild land, cov- 
ered with the richest grasses and furnished with the 
greatest abundance of Avatef , makes this second to 
none as a stock -growing country. 



ACREAGE AND TAXATION. 

There are 346,526 acres of land found on the Assess- 
or's books, valued at .f633,785. 

Tax levied for county purposes for 1879, fifty cents 
on the one hundred dollars. 

Total taxable property of tlie county for 1S65, $2.5S,- 
SOl; for 1875, $802,154; for 1879, $1,235,238. 

PRICE OF LAND. 

Butler County owns 20,000 acres of land subject to 
entry at $1.25 per acre. 

There is yet some Government land in the county. 
The St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway 
Company own some very fine land in tlie county, 
which can be purchased at greatly reduced rates. 

There is also some good land in the county be- 
longing to the Agricultural College, which may be 
bought at from eighty cents to $2.50 per acre. 

The number of 

MILES OF RAILROAD 

in the county are : St. Louis, Iron Mountain & South- 
ern, 35.31 ; Cairo Branch, 11.2S, making a total of 46.59 
miles; the road-bed and rolling-stock of which are 
valued at $404,606. 

THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 
is in a healthy condition. There are thirty-nine or- 
ganized school districts in the county, the greater 
number of which are furnished with fair school 
houses and a reasonal)ly fair grade of teachers. 
The schools are open in the various districts, from 
four to ten months during the year. Capital school 
funds belonging to the county, $11,000. 

The varioiis religious orders and benevolent insti- 
tutions are represented here, and seem to be in a 
healthy condition. 

HEALTH. 

The health of the county is about on an average witli 
the rest of the Mississippi Valley. During the latter 
part of the summer and early fall considerable inter- 
mittent and remit1?ent fevers, variously complica- 



98 



Hand- Book of Missouri. 



ted, prevail. During the winter, some are subject to 
pneumonia. However, tlioso persons who arc reg- 
ular in their habits and diet, furnishing themselves 
with good houses and proper clotliing are rarely 
ever siek. I'ulmonary consumption, diphtheria, ty- 
phoid and typhus fevers are rarely seen in the 
country. 

MOKAL CONDITION. 
I'olitics produce no more disturbance hero than 



in any county in the State. The report that a 
Republican i:^ not allowed to exercise his x>olit- 
ical rights in Butler County is false and a slan- 
der. One of the delegates is a Republican- 
has been since the organization of the part}-— has 
advocated the principles privately and publicly — 
voted the ticket for twelve years, and has never been 
molested. 



CALDWELL COUNTY. 



Caldwell County lies near the center of the north- 
west quarter of the State, between Daviess on the 
north and Ray on the south, Livingston and Carroll 
on the east and Clinton and De Kalb on the west. 
Extending eighteen miles north and south and 
twenty-four east and west, it contains 432 square 
miles or 276,480 acres. 

SOIL CIIARACTKRISTICS. 

The soU is generally of the very best quality, and 
may appropriately be divided into three classes: 
first, the high prairie ; second, the calcareous or 
limestone ; and third, the bottom. 

The high prairie lies on the ridges between the 
water courses, and constitutes about two-thirds of 
the land of the county. The soil consists of a deep, 
dark siliceous loam, with an argillaceous subsoil 
sufficiently porous to admit of free drainage of sur- 
plus water. 

The calcareous or limestone lies near or below 
the limestone ledges, which crop out on the hill- 
sides along the water courses. The soil is not so 
deep as the high prairie, but is very fertile and rich 
in lime. 

The bottom lies along the water courses. The 
soil is vciy deep, being composed of sand, clay and 
vegetable mould variously interstratifled. It cor- 
responds in quality to the great bottoms which lie 
along the Missouri and IVIississippi rivers. 

WATER AND TIMBER. 
Shoal Creek, the principal water course in the 
county, takes its rise in Clinton County and flows in 
an easterly direction, passing near the center of the 
county, and forms a tributary of Grand river. Its 
principal tributaries on the north are Brushy Mill, 
Tom, Cottonwood and Otter Creeks. On the south 
are Mud, Crabapplc, Log, Goose and Deer Creeks. 
These, together with others of less note, are well 
distrilfuted over the county. Tlieir borders are 
fringed with a vigorous growth of soft maple-sugar- 
tree, hackberry, wild cherry, ash, linden, shellbark, 
and white hickory, burr, oak, black walnut, syca- 
more, mulberry, black, red, white and laurel oak, 
plum, hazel, sumach, wahoo,prickley ash, crabapple 
and many other trees of this latitude. These 
streams Ixnug deep set, principally below the lime- 
stone ledges, furnish an abundant supply of water 
for stock. The timber yields a refreshing shade in 



summer and a protection from the storms in winter, 
as well as a bountiful supply for fuel and building 
purijoses. 

PRODUCTIONS. 

The productions of Caldwell County are as varied 
as her soil is rich and fertile. Corn, wheat, oats 
rye, sorghum, buckwheat, potatoes, flax, hemp, blue 
grass, timothy, clover, millet, Hungarian, and in 
fact every jDlant grown within the climatic zone of 
Missouri gives an abundant yield here. Corn is the ■ 
most extensively cultivated. This, the king of all 
the cereals, grows from eight to flfteen feet high and 
yields from tweuty-flve to seventy-flve bushels per 
acre. It grows well on all the soils enumerated, 
but the high prairie and bottom lands are its native 
home, and on these it gives its greatest yield. Oats 
yields from twenty-five to sixty bushels per acre, 
and wheat from ten to forty. The quality and 
quantity varying more from the mode of culture 
than from the kind of soil ui3on which it is grown. 

The grasses are as much at home here as any- 
where in the wide world. It is a natural grass 
country. The native prairie grass before it was 
disturbed by the advance of civilization grew from 
two to eight feet high. As it passes away before 
the plow and excessive grazing, its place is being 
taken by blue grass, wliich is as much at home here 
as in the famous " blue grass region of Kentuc^ky." 
Timothy and clover are unsuriiassed )iy any part of 
the Union. 

The vegetable productions of any country deter- 
mine the character of its stock. The laud where 
corn and blue gi-ass predominate is the land where 
horses, cattle, hogs, and shee;), reacli their highest 
iserfection. This ti'uth is fully demonstrated in 
Caldwell County. Ko county in this State, in pro- 
portion to its size, can show better breeds or greater 
numbers. Statistics taken from the County Clerk's 
office show that there are now in the county 7,582 
horses, 1,172 mules, 2-1,01,") head of caltlc, 34,007 hogs, 
and 27,90,5 sheep. 

The most reliable information from stock-feeders 
in the sevei-al townships indicate that there were fed 
in the county during last fall and winter about 4,680 
head of native cattlc!, and 2,'),000 lie.ad of hogs. 



With proper care most all the fruits of this 
latitude do well here. Fine orchards of apple. 



Hand-Book of Missouui. 



99 



peach, pear, and cheny, are in good bearing condi- 
tion. The smaU fruits, such as the gooseberry, 
raspberr}-, blackberry, currant, and strawbcriy, 
succeed well. But of all the fruit grown, the grape 
may be ranked among the most certain, and of the 
very best quality. The thousands of acres of rich 
calcareous lands, iu the vicinity of the limestone 
ledges that make their appearance along the water 
courses, offer a field for the grape-grower nnsur- 
pasaed by any county in the State. All the varieties 
grown in Missouri attain a perfection as to size and 
quality that would gratify the most fastidious. 
WhUe the grape does well upon any of tlie soils of 
the county, the greater adaptability of the calcareous 
soils to their growth, maturity and quality, will, in 
the near future, render them the most valuable in 
the coxinty. 

THE PEOPLK. 

Caldwell County was first settled about the year 
1830, and was organized in 1836. From that time to 
the present there has been a gradual increase in 
population. At the present time the number of 
inhabitants is between 12,000 and 15,000. The people 
represent most all parts of the Union, as well as 
many nations of Europe. The States of Kentucky, 
Tennessee, Virginia and the Carolinas are well rep- 
resented. So, too, are Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and 
other parts of the Northwest. The Middle and New 
England States have contributed their shares to the 
population. Great Britain, Germany, Trance, and 
the Scandinavian States are here represented by 
some of our best men. All classes have had their 
influence in shaping the social, inteUectual, political 
and commercial ways of the people. Neither the 
bigotry of the South, nor the selfishness of the 
North, is manifest among our people. Everywhere 
they are industrious, frank, social, and obliging. 
They recognize true excellence without any regard 
to nativity. 

A people so heterogeneous in their character, as a 
matter of course, have multiplied religious denom- 
inations. The most prominent are the Methodist, 
Baptist, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Christian, 
United Brethren, Latter-Day Saints, and Catholic. 
But, among all this diversity of creed there is per- 
fect religious toleration. Nowhere can be found 
greater religious harmony. 

Of charitable and benevolent orders, the Masons, 
Odd Fellows, and Ancient Order of United Work- 
men, have good lodges and in good working order. 

The people are all in favor of public schools. No 
county takes greater pride in educational matters. 
Including four graded schools, there are sixty-nine 
public schools districts in the county. Most of the 
districts have good school houses, with all modern 
methods of instruction. The schools arc maintained 
from five to eight months in the year. 

FINANCIAL. 

The county is out of debt. Her warrants are good 
as gold. She is traversed throughout her length 
and breadth by good roads. Her streams are 
spanned by good, substantial bridges. 

RAILROADS. 
Through the northern tier of townships runs the 
old reliable Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, which 



brings the people in reach of the markets of the 
world. 

There is also a prospective raUroad to run from 
Kansas City to Chillicothe byway of Kingston, the 
county seat. This, if built, will be of great benefit 
to the people. 

TOWNS. 

The towns and villages of the county are Kings- 
ton, Hamilton, Breckenridge, Ividder, Mirahill, Polo 
and Black Oak. 

Kingston, the county seat, i.; located near the 
center of the count)-. It has a population of about 
600. The court house and a ten thousand dollar 
school building are the most prominent buildings in 
the place. 

Hamilton, located on the Hannibal & St. Joseph 
RaUroad, nine miles north of Kingston, is a town of 
about 1,500 inhabitants. It is surrounded by a good 
prairie country, rich in agricultural resources. The 
streets are wide, and beautifully ornamented with 
softmaple and other deciduous trees. The buildings 
are mostly new, of modern style of architecture, and 
substantially built. The public school building, 
erected at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars, is an 
elegant striicture, of which the people of Hamilton 
are justly proud. 

Breckenridge, located near the northeast corner 
of the county, on the Hannibal & St. Joseph Rail- 
road, has a population of about 1,200 inhabitants. 
Like Hamilton, the to-Nvn is surrounded by a good 
agricultural country. They have a fine school 
building, erected at a cost of eighteen thousand 
dollars. 

Kidder, situated near the northwest corner of the 
county, also on the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, 
has about 350 inhabitants. It is noted as being the 
seat of Thayer College, an institution founded by 
the Congregational Church. The people are mostly 
from New England, and are noted for their intelli- 
gence and refinement. 

Mirahill, situated near the west side of the county, 
seven mUes west of Kingston, is a town of about 200 
inhabitants, and has a good local trade. 

Each of these towns has a good miU, and are well 
supplied wnth churches. 

Polo is a village near the south side of the county, 
and Black Oak near the southeast corner ; both are 
doing a good local business. 

INDUCEMENTS TO IMMIGRANTS. 

It is a land of good soil, plenty of timber and 
water, good school houses and churches, a climate 
that is between the rigors of the North and the 
sulti-y heat of the South, and, above all, a class of 
people that, in intelligence, industry and morality, 
have no superiors. In accordance with the geolog- 
ical surveys, the entire county is underlaid with 
coal, which only awaits enterjirise and capital. 
Good stone in quantities and quality that challenge 
comparison, is accessible to all. 

PRICE OF LANDS, ETC. 
This land, with all its advantages, can be bought 
cheap. Unimproved land is offered at from five to 
ten dollars per acre. Improved farms can be bought 
at ten to twenty-five dollars per acre, depending 
on the improvements and other advantages. 



100 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



CALLAWAY COUNTY. 



This county was organized in 1820, has an area of 
809 square miles— 517,700 acres — lies in what is com- 
monly called Xortheastern Missouri, about fifty 
miles directly west of the Mississippi River, and 
eighty miles west of St. Louis, and is bounded on 
the nortli by Audraiil County; on the east by Mont- 
gomery County; on the south by tlie Missouri River, 
and on the west by Boone County. 

TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 

Twenty-five percent, of the county is high, roUing 
prairie, mostly lying in the northern division of the 
county, and interspersed with pretty belts of timber 
that fringe the smaller water courses flowing south- 
ward from the high divide or water-shed between 
the Missoui-i and Mississippi Rivers. Smaller prai- 
ries, glades and intervals are found in the central 
portions, but the solid south half, with most of the 
central division of the county, is high, rolling tim- 
bered land, coui'sed by valleys and their attendant 
streams dipping southward to the Missouri River. 
The Missouri River bottoms, varying from one to 
three miles in width, extend, with little inter- 
mission, along the entire southern border of the 
county, and embrace half a dozen of the finest val- 
ley views in the Southwest. The bluff district, 
which extends inland four and five miles from the 
river and bottoms, is a range of somewhat irregular 
wooded hills, generally easy of access and suited to 
agriculture. 

TIMBER SUPPLY. 

A d&zen varieties of oak, plenty of ash and elm, 
and extensive groves of walnut, witli liickory, hack- 
berry, sycamore, white birch, hard and soft maple, 
Cottonwood, cheriy, linden, and a dozen other varie- 
ties, furnish cheap fuel to repletion, and valuable 
commercial woods for manufacture or export on a 
large scale. 

THE WATER SUPPLY 

too, is excellent, both as to quality and volume. 
The Missouri River flows forty miles along the 
southern border of the county. In the north is the 
Cedar Creek and a dozen tributary creeks and runs. 
The Auxvasse River flows across the central portion 
from north to south, and with a score of branches 
drains a large district. Springs and spring-brooks, 
living wells thirty to seventy feet deep, cisterns 
and artificial ponds, make up a water system equal 
to any in the northern counties. 



abounds, and about IGO.OOO acres of territory are 
underlaid with liituniinous coal in veins from eigh- 
teen inches to four feet in thickness, and from out- 
croppings along the streams to a depth of sixty feet. 
In the south part of the county, cannel coal is found 
in immense pockets, underlying a district of over 
20,000 acres. Two shafts have been sunk here — sixty 
and eighty f uct deep — going neai-ly all the way down 
through solid deposits of cannel coal. 
4l rich stratum of red eai-thy hematite 



IRON 

is found in the central portion of the county and 
worked with gratifying results. The entire south 
half of the county is supposed to be rich in this 
mineral. Brick and potter's clay of the very best 
quality are found in large measure in many portions 
of the county, and there are good deposits of 
hydraulic limestone and mineral jiaints in several 
colors, scattered throughout this mineral region. 
Building stone there is no end. White and gray 
limestone crop out in massive ledges along many of 
the streams and are finely stratified and easily 
quarried. A fine building marble, susceptible of 
high polish, is reported in good quantity at several 
points in the county. But chief among the native 
resources of this rich old county is 

THE SOIL, 

which in the prairie districts is a dark flexible allu- 
vial, from ten to thirty inches deep, very fertile and 
productive, admirably suited* to corn, oats and the 
grasses, and among the most bountiful of western 
soils. The Missouri bottoms which have an area of 
30,000 acres or more are of the same deep, rich, 
inexhaustible alluvial as the upper Missouri bottoms, 
are the richest corn lands in the world, equally 
valuable for wheat and timothy. The timber land 
soils of the country are a shade lighter in color and 
consistency, but produce wheat, corn, oats, rye, 
sorghum, flax, tobacco, broom corn, millet, Hunga- 
rian, vegetables, grasses and fruits abundantly and 
will compai'e favorably with the woodland soils of 
any of the Eastern and Xortheru States. The sub- 
soil of Callaway County is an interesting study for 
tlie agricultural economist. It is largely composed 
of siliceous matter, lime and magnesia carbonate, 
lime phosphate and pulverizes like quick lime, on 
exposure to air and frost, becomes as manageable as 
compost and is altogether wonderful for versatility 
and power of productiveness. 

THE CORN CROP 

of Callaway County (never a failure) runs from 
2,000,000 to 4,000,000 bushels annually, gives a yield 
of thirty to ninety bushels per acre and is much the 
largest and most profitable grain grown. The 
Missouri bottoms often give a yield of seveutj'-flve 
to eighty-five busliels per acre. 

WHEAT-GROWING 

is fast becoming a popular industry with the Calla- 
way farmers. The oak and hickory soils,which cover 
more than half the county, are natural wheat lands, 
and with the same use of clover and thorough culti- 
vation given to wheat-farming in Pennsylvania, 
Michigan and Wisconsin, the wheat crop of this 
county might easily be brought up to 1,000,000 bushels 
surplus annually. The old system of farming here 
ran to tobacco, corn, timothy and live stock, but the 
high quality of white winter wheat grown upoa 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



10 r 



these fine timber soils, with a yield of fifteen to 
twenty -ftve bushels per acre, with veiy superticial 
culture, are a high compliment to Callaway County 
as a wheat region. 

OATS AND RYE 

flourish here, the former yielding from thirty-five to 
seventy bushels and the latter from eighteen to 
thirty bushels to the acre. Broom corn and sorghum 
are excellent crops here. 

TOBACCO 

has been a great crop here, the yearly production 
of tlie county running from 1,000,000 to 1,700,000 
pounds. Of late, however, the low price of this 
staple has discouraged cultivators, and the produc- 
tion has greatly fallen off. 

THE NATIVE AND DOMESTIC GRASSES 

lead all the other local resources combined. The 
native prairie grasses, of wliich there are upwards 
of an hundred varieties, are still found to a good 
extent on the uncultivated prairies of the northern 
and central portions of tlie count}', and from early 
April to late in July, put more flesh upon grazing 
stock than any domestic grass grown. But 
they are steadily yielding to the blue grass, which 
is indigenous to tlie county, and is spreading 
over forest, prairie and field in splendid fashion. 
In ordinai-y winters, cattle, sheep, mules and horses 
are on the range the year round. White clover is a 
natural growth of the country, red clover makes a 
splendid showing and the timotliy meadows, espe- 
cially in the prairie and bottom districts, will rank 
with tlie finest on the continent. The magnitude of 
this industry in Callaway County is measurably in- 
dicated by the last Assessor's report, which returns 
lor the county 7,746 horses, 4,063 mules, 17,773 head 
of cattle, 32,087 sheep and 36,412 swine. The last 
year's export of suiijIus horses, mules, cattle, sheep 
and hogs will aggregate not less tlian 1,500 car loads, 
worth in the local market, at present prices, not less 
than 11,600,000. The stock business pays a large 
profit on the money invested in lands and animals, 
sheep and cattle in good, practical hands giving 
twenty-five to thirty-five per cent, yearly jirofit. 

A SHEEP COUNTRY. 

The high, dry, rolling and bluff districts, with 
their blue grass and white clover, their timber and 
valleys, furnishing jierfect health, perfect grazing 
and natural shelter for hundreds of flocks where 
few or none are now grazed. 

THE CLIMATE. 

The medium latitude, a mean altitude of six hun- 
dred feet above the tides, and the prevailing south- 
Ivesterly winds from the great prairie readies make 
the climate for the most part thoroughly enjoyable, 
and together witli the drainage, topography and pure 
water supply, give a high average of health and 
longevity. 

LOW PRICE OF LANDS. 

Everywhere lands are selling far below their in- 
trinsic value. There is no end of offerings in good 
improved farms at less than the value of their im- 
provements in buildings, fences and orchards. The 
range of prices for farms runs all the way from 



eight to twenty-five doUars per acre, the medium 
being from twelve to sixteen dollars per acre. Wild 
lands are offered at from one dollar and fifty cents 
to ten dollars per acre, depending upon soil and 
location. Tlie 

TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES 

are excellent. The Jefferson City Division of tlie 
Cliicago & Alton Railroad crosses the county from 
nortli to soutli, giving connections with the main 
line and the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific at Mexico 
and tlie capital of the State, the Missouri Pacific 
Road and the Missouri RiveV on the south, giving 
the county forty-one and one-half miles of railway 
and ten shipping stations. The Missouri River 
furnishes cheap and ample transportation the 
greater portion of the year. Just across the river 
from the southern border of the county, the Mis- 
souri Pacific Road furnishes competition with the 
river boats at seven shipping stations. The Wabash, 
St. Louis & Pacific Railway furnishes half a dozen 
near shipping points for the northern portion of the 
county. 

EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES. 

No county in the State of Missouri surpasses Cal- 
laway for schools. There are in the county one 
hundred and fifteen white and fifteen colored free 
• public schools— all in a flourishing condition. These 
.schools accommodate 8,000 children, at the low rate 
of taxation of thirty- three cents on the one hundred 
dollars. 

The county has a standing county school fund of 
over $45,000, and an annual sum arising from the 
State fund of about ?6,000. New school houses 
abound in nearly every school district, and nearly 
$30,000 are ex-pendcd every year for school puiposes. 
Besides, there are two colleges— male and female — 
located at Fulton, the county seat. These coUegea 
are thorough in the work of giving a knowledge of 
the higher branches of education. 

FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE COUNTY. 

Some years ago the county in building some fifty- 
miles of railroad, and incurring the expense of 
other enterprises, assumed a debt of nearly 
$8,000,000. Thi9 the-county has reduced one-third, 
and is still reducing yearly, at the low taxable rate 
of $1.50 on the $100. This low rate is derived from 
$5,000,000— the assessed valuation of the property of 
the county. This valuation is fast increasing, and 
at the rate of $1.50 on the $100, the tax meets all 
county and State exjienses, and leaves a yearly sink- 
ing fund for the county. 

CITIES AND TOWNS. 

Fulton is the county seat, and is situated on 
the Louisiana & Missouri River Railroad, which 
connects the two great trunk roads from St. 
Louis west. It is a substantial and rapidly 
growing city of 2,500 inhabitants. It is located 
midway between Jefferson City and Mexico. The 
State asylums for the insane and deaf and 
dumb are located here. These institutions are both 
in a flourishing condition, and accommodate nearly 
an equal number of pupils and patients, amountiug^ 
in the aggregate to nearly 1,000 persons. These in- 
stitutions expend annually $100,000 for supplies, the 
greater part of which goes to the farmers of the: 



102 



Hand-Book of MiSSOUtRI. 



county— thus furnishing them with a lionie market 
quite equal to that of St. Louis. The city also con- 
tains ten churches, a good flouring mill, woolen 
factory, besides all kinds and places of business 
usually found in cities of the same size. All of the 
learned professions are ably represented. Her 
banking and postal accommodations are flrst-clas&. 
The city has a good public school, and all her bus- 
iness is done on a firm and substantial basis. 

Cedar City, New Bloomfield, Guthrie, Carrington, 
Meleredic, and Clint'on, are all thriving young 
towns along the lii>e of railroad that extends 
through the county. Williamsburg, Millersburg, 
Concord, Portland, Boydsville, Stephen's Store, St. 
Aubert, Readsville,and Barkersville,are all villages 
scattered over the county, and surrounded by rich 
agricultural districts. 

SOCIKTl'. 

Nothing, perhaps, has retarded immigration so 
much as the erroneotis idea of the state of society— 
especially in regard to political freedom. Citi- 
zenfi do not deny the fact that some political ill- 
feeling existed soon after the war, but this was 
gi-eatly exaggerated abroad, as every one will testify 
who has come into the county since. The society 
will now compare favorably Math any in any of the ► 
Western or Northwestern States, and all parties and 



persuasions ai-e as free to speak and think here as 
anywhere. 

Politically, the county is about three -fourLhs 
Democratic, but the city of Fulton is about equally 
divided. Good churches abound in every neighbor- 
hood, and a feeling of friendship and good will 
pervades, society dispensing hospitality, and wel- 
coming thrift, industry, enterprise and capital from 
every quarter. 

IMMIGKATION. 

Tlie county has a population of about 30,000. Tlie 
early settlers were mostly from Kentucky and 
Virginia, but her population now, are from nearly 
all parts of the United States and some parts of the 
old country. 

Many immigrants are now coming into the county 
from Pennsylvania and other Eastern and Northern 
States. 

A county immigration society was organized in 
the county in September, 1879, for the purpose of 
^couraging immigration and imparting a general 
knowledge of the county. Persons wishing any 
special information in this line can obtain it by 
addressing the president of the society. Farms at 
this time can be bought at prices ranging all the 
way. from five to twenty-flve dollars per acre, ac- 
cording to distance from railroad, location, im- 
provements, etc. 



OAMDEN COUNTY. 



Camden County is located near the center of the 
State of Missouri, 150 miles west of the City of St. 
Louis, and about fifty miles southwest of the capital 
of the State. It has an area of 720 square miles and 
a population of 7,000 inhabitants. Linn Creek, the 
county seat, is situated near the center of the county 
and one mile sQuth of the Osage Biter in the valley 
of Linn Creek, from which creek its name is derived. 

TOPOGRAPHY. 

The eastern portion of the county is generally 
rolling, but interspersed with beautiful, fertile val- 
leys. The western and northwestern portions are 
rough and mountainous, with large fertile valleys 
between the mountain ranges and along the rivers 
and creeks. 

The entire surface is covered with fine timber, ex- 
cept what is in cultivation. There is an abundance 
of good building stone. Limestone abounds in every 
part of the county, from which lime of tlie best qual- 
ity is made. 

SOILS AND PRODUCTS. 

Lvery variety of soil is found in the county, from 
the ricli alluvial soil of the river bottoms to the mu- 
latto clay of the uplands. It is equally well adapted 
to grain, grass, fruits, stock-growing and grazing. 
The products of the ^^orests furnish feed for hogs, 
and the wild grass on the hills and mountains pas- 
turage for slieep and cattle, which can be i-aised 



with little expense. The bottom and valley lands 
are as rich and productive as any in the State, and 
the xiplauds produce small grain, grass and fruits in 
abundance, espefcially the grape which has proved a 
success wherever it has been tr^^d. The wild grapes 
grow spontaneously on the liill and mountain sides, 
from which lumdreds of gallons of wine have been 
made. : 

FARMS AND FARM LABOR. 

The lands in cultivation are generally small farms. 
There are no large land -owners or land monopolists. 
Each citizen owns his homestead, and is Lord of his 
Manor. Improved farms on bottom, or valley lands, 
can be purchased at from five to fifteen dollars ])ei- 
acre, and improved uplands from three to ten dol- 
lars per acre, according to quality, location and 
improvements. L^nimproved land can be bought at 
from one to five dollars per aci-e. All farm produc- 
tions find a ready market. Farm laborers receive 
from ten to fifteen dollars per month, with board. 

PUBLIC LANDS. 

The county contains 460,000 acres of land, of which 
only 200,000 acres have been entered. The remain- 
ing 260,000 acres can be purchased fi-oin the govern- 
ment at the price of one dollar and twenty-five 
cents per acre, or entered as liomesteads. Wliile 
the selections made have been of choice lands, there 
still remains vast tracks of ridge, table and valley 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



105 



lands awaiting the settler to convert them into 
fertile fields and productive orchards and vineyards 
with no expense except his labor and the- small 
fees required to secure homesteads. 

WATER FACILITIES AND PRIVILEGES. 

The Osage river flows through and along the 
northern part of the county, in its meanderings, a 
distance of seventy miles. It is navigable for small 
steamboats from four to six months in the year 
and for smaller craft the whole year. 

Tlie Big Niangua enters the county at the south- 
west corner, running northeasterly, and empties 
into the Osage, one mile above Linn Creek the 
county seat. The Little Niangua from the western 
boundary of the county inins east and empties into 
the Big Niangua five miles above its mouth. The 
Anglaise rises in the eastern portion of the county, 
runs north and empties into the Osage. Besides 
these there are a number of smaller creeks and 
large springs which will furnish all the water power 
that could be desired. One of the latter, " Gunter's 
Spring," has sufficient volume and power to drive 
the machinery for a large manufacturing town. 
Springs of pure, clear water bubble in the valley 
beds and gush from the mountain sides in every 
part of the county, and a plentiful supply of pure 
water is obtained at little or no expense. 

RAILROADS. 

The St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad passes 
through the southeast corner and along the south- 
ern line of the county. This company has 3,338 
acres of land in the county, and Stoutland, in this 
county, a station on this road, is quite a flourishing 
shipping point. 

A preliminary survey is now being made through 
the county for an extensipn of a branch of the Osage 
Valley & Southern Kansas Railroad, from Versailles, 
in Morgan County, to Lebanon, in Laclede County, 
which will pass through the center of the county, 
connecting it with the two trunk lines running east 
and west, and giving competition between two rail- 
roads and river transportation. 



MINERALS. 

Lead abounds in every congressional township Im 
the county and has been taken out in paying quan- 
tities wherever worked. Iron ore — both the blue- 
specular and red hematite — is found in large de- 
posits in different parts of the county. Zinc and 
kaolin have also been discovered. The mining that 
has been done has been in the most primitive 
manner, and nothing but surface ore has beea 
reached. , 

FINANCE AND TAXATION. 
The taxable wealth of the county is $1,000,000, 
which is very evenly distributed among the inhabi- 
tants, having no very rich men and but few reaUy 
poor. The entire indebtedness of the county ia 
$5,000 bonded debt, and about $3,000 floating debt 
only eighty cents on the hundred dollars value of 
the taxable wealth. This debt is being gradually 
extinguished and the current expenses of the 
coimty met by a levy of sixty cents on the one 
hundred dollars value of taxable property. 

MORAL, SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL. 

The moral and social standing of the people of 
Camden County, and their character as law-abiding 
citizens will compare favorably with any other. 
The official records show that not a single sase of 
felony has been on the court dockets for two yeai-s^ 
and not a criminal confined in the county jail dur- 
ing that period. 

There are fifty-three organized school districts in 
the county in which a free public school is taught in 
each from four to eight months in the year. The 
county has a permanent school fund of $20,000 and 
several thousand acres of land, the annual interest 
and proceeds of which, with about $2,000 annually 
appropriated by the State is held as a sacred fund 
for the education of the children. 

All religious denominations are fully represented 
and are provided with comfortable edifices in which 
the genuine principles of Christianity are diffused 
and inculcated. 



CAPE GIRARDEAU COUNTY. 



Cape Girardeau County, the largest, most popu- 
lous and by far the wealthiest county in Southeast 
Missoui-i, is situated on the Mississippi, one hundred 
and fifty miles south of the great city of St. Louis. 

Periy County bounds it on the north, Bollinger on 
the west, and Scott and Stoddard on the south. 

HISTORICAL FACTS. 
In point of history, it is one of the oldest in the 
State, having, as far back as 1810, a population of 
nearly 4,000. In 1795, we find an authorized cession 
of the then territory, made by the Spanish Crown, 
to Louis Lorimer, through Baron de Carondelet, 
Governor-General of Louisiana. Notwithstanding 
the grant came from the Spanish Crown, the earlier 
settlers were of French origin. This element, how- 



evei-, to-day forms but a smaU part of the population, 
having been superseded by the tlu-ifty, economical 
and law-abiding German. There is not a nation on 
the globe, with the single exception of the Chinese, 
but has some representative in tlie county, 
though the American and German largely predom- 
inate. 

CHARACTER OF THE LAND. 

The surface of the land is varied and uneven; in 
some parts hilly ; but the greater portion lies in ex- 
cellent position for cultivation. 

The traveler who passes up and down the Missis- 
sippi River, or the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & 
Southern Railway, is very liable to take up an erro- 
neous, idea of the true condition and character of 



104 



Hand-Book or Missouri. 



the surface and soil of the county. If he is on the 
i-iver he sees a chain of hills that soon give way to 
a rich, rolling surface, not visible except at places 
>yhei-e creeks empty into the river. If he is on the 
railroad he will likely think, from what little he can 
then sec, that this county belongs to what ife known as 
the " Swamp of Southeast Missouri." This is a mis- 
take. Cape Girardeau County has but little swamp 
land; in fact, every acre of it caii be seen from tlie 
railroad. The great body of tlie county belongs to 
that grade denominated as iiplands, and in many 
places where the larger farms join each other the 
sight resembles the rich, rolling prairies of the 
West. There is, however, along some portions of 
the Slississippi River, Whitewater River and the 
creeks, broad acres of bottom lands. 

RESOURCES, PRICE OF LAND AND VALUA- 
TION. 

Tlie agricultural resources of the county are not 
surpassed by a like number of acres in tlie world, and 
the immense crops wliich are produ'ced year after 
year from the same lands are a verification of this 
statement. There is in the county 598 square miles, 
or .382,720 acres, of which about one-fourth is in a higli 
state of cultivation. There is, perliaps, of this 
382,720 acres fully one-fourth for sale. In other 
words, there is now on the market 95,680 acres of 
land in this county. 

The unimproved lands can be had at from two to 
ten dollars per acre ; tlie improved at from Ave to 
thirty dollars per acre, owing to location, improve- 
ments, etc. These are tlie extreme figures, as will 
be seen from an examination of the public records. 

The assessed valuation of tlie county (which is 
not more tlian one-fourtli of the true valuation), for 
the year 1879, was $4,003,825. 

FINANCES. 

The county does not owe a dollar of indebtedness, 
and now has on hand, as will be seen by settlement 
of County Treasurer with County Court, at its 
February term, A. D. 1880, in actual cash, tlie sum 
of $24,869.51, belonging to the County Revenue Fund. 
At no time in its history has the paper of tliis county 
been below par, a fact that cannot be denied, and 
one in which every citizen feels a just pride. Not 
unfrequently has the press and public confounded 
Cape Girardeau Township's indebtedness in railroad 
bonds Willi Cape Girardeau County. 

As above stated Cape Girardeau Countjj has no 
outstanding indebtedness — has never issued a 
single bond in aid of a railroad or any other corpor- 
ation, and has to-day in cash a surplus of county 
revenue of $24,869.51. 

Besides this large sum of county revenue in her 
treasury, she has a capital school fund belonging to 
county and townships amounting to $46,263. Every 
dollar of this capital scliool fund is judiciously in- 
vested in the county, yielding tlie liighest legal rate 
of interest. 

In addition to these :,d,rge sums of money the 
county lias a magnificent farm, known as tlie Poor 
Farm of Cape Girardeau County, worth $10,000. 
Upon tliis farm the poor and unfortunate are 
humanely cared for. The average number of 
paupers cared for on tliis farm per year is tweuty- 
flve . 



As would be expected, from a full treasury, as 
shown above, the rate of taxation in this county is 
small, being only thirty cents on the one hundred 
dollars for county revenue. This is worthy of note. 
Especially so, when it is to be remembered that 
witli this rate of taxation there is a surplus of 
.$24,869.51 in cash in bonds. 

EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES. 

Perhaps not more than one county outside of St 
Louis surpasses Cape Girardeau in point of educa- 
tional advantages. Her people are intelligent, lib- 
erty-loving and moral. The Southeast Missouri 
Normal School is located in tlie city of Cape Girar- 
deau, in Cape Gfrardeau County. In point of archi- 
tectural-beauty the building is the pride of the 
State. Situated as it is, on one of the most com- 
manding sights along the Mississippi, from its 
campus, now a garden of roses, the observer has a 
magnificent view of the river and surrounding 
country. This school is supported by State appro- 
priations. It has a full faculty, is well attended by 
j'^oung men and women from all parts of the State. 
No tuition fee is charged. It is free to residents of 
tlie State. Next in point of individual magnitude is 
the beautifully located St. Vincent's College. This 
is also situated in the city of Cape Girardeau ; is 
one of the oldest chartered colleges in all Southeast 
Missouri. It is under the control of the Catholic 
church, and is well patronized from almost every 
State in the Union. In connection with the coUege 
is St. Vincent's Academy for young ladies, under the 
management of the Sisters of Loretto. 

There are three high schools in the county, of 
most excellent standing. 

In addition to these there are ten religious and 
sectional schools in the county. 

And to all of these there must be added sixty-five 
weU organized, active, progressive, public district 
schools scattered througliout the entire county. In 
the conducting of these public district schools 
there was expended in the county by taxation tlie 
sum of $14,688, and by apportioni^ent, State, county, 
and township funds, the further sum of $9,196, mak- 
ing the expenditure for the public district schools 
of the county amount to $23,884 for the year 1879. 
The statement is warranted, therefore, in saying to 
the world that no people on the_ globe has a more 
glorious and brilliant future than the people of 
Cape Girardeau County in point of educational 
advantages. The $46,243 of capital school fund is 
held secured for the public schools of the county, 
and in less than five j^ears it wiU be increased to 
the immense sum of $100,000, at its present rate of 
growth. 

TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES. 

The highways of the county with the outer 
world are tlie Mississippi River and the St. Louis, 
Iron Mountain & Southern Railway. The for- 
mer bounds the county on the east and the latter 
passes through tlie southwest corner of the county. 
There is a strong probability that a branch road will 
be built from Allenville, a station on the St. Louis, 
Iron Mountain & Southern Railway, to Jackson, 
the county seat of Cape Girardeau County, as the 
survey has already been made. It is also more 
than likely that work will soon be resumed on the 



Hand-Book or Missouri. 



105 



Cape Girardeau & State Line Railroad. In addition 
to these great highways tliere are thi-ee McAdani- 
ized roads in llie county leading in various direc- 
tions to the adjoining counties. These last are 
private corporations — individual enterprise — upon 
which a small toll is collected for the purpose of 
keeping up tlie coi-porations. 

There is a perfect system of public roads through- 
out the entire county, and so eager are the people 
to keep up good public roads that they annually 
pay a tax of twenty cents on the one hundred dol- 
lars valuation of their property for tliat purpose 
alone. Within the last two years tlie county has 
built five iron bridges costing in the aggregate the 
sum of $9,700, and has now in course of construc- 
tion two more that will cost $5,000. 

THE COUNTY FAIR. 

The Southeast District Agricultural Society, a 
Chartered corporation, is established and located in 
this county about one mile from the city of Cape 
Girardeau. Tlie county court of Cape Girardeau 
County annually appropriates a large sum of money 
to this society for the purpose of premiums to be 
confined to the products of this county; but the 
premiums offered by the society proper are open to 
the world and not confined to the count}'. The 
annual meeting of this society or fair, now in its 
fifteenth year, attracts attention from abnost every 
quarter, and some of the articles on exhibition are 
as fine as can be seen at the great State fairs of the 
country. The 

MINERAL RESOURCES 

of the county are almost wholly undeveloped. This 
is partially due to a want of railroad communica- 
tions with the great commercial centers. Lead, in 
the liUly portion of the county, is found in paying 
quantities, and the same is true of iron. Ochre, 
kaolin, or, as it is sometimes called, China claj', and 
white flint or silica, form a large and valuable por- 
tion of our exports. Ochre is found in all colors 
and is used for paint. White kaolin and flint are 
used in the manufacture of fine porcelain ware. 
Nearly 11,000 tons of kaolin and flint were shipped 
from Cape Girardeau to tnree manufacturing estab- 
lishments in Cincinnati, last year ; about 2,000 tons 
were shipped to East Liverpool, and about S,000 tons 
were used in the city of St. Louis. It cost three 
dollars per ton to send this article to Cincinnati, the 
principal i^lace of shipment. Wliite sand and pot- 
ter's clay of the purest sort are found in large 
quantities, and many tons of tlie former are shipijed 
to the glass factories of the East. Marble of a most 
excellent quality abounds in the county. The very 
best lime in the world is made in this county at a 
cost of forty-five cents per barrel. Last 3'ear more 
than 10,000 barrels were made and shipped from this 
eounty. 

WATER AND TIMBER. 

The water-power of this county is indeed fine, and 
possesses many and rare inducements tothecapi- 
talist. 



The timber is of a most excellent character, and 
consists of oak, poplar, black walnut, hickory, ash, 
elm and gum. In some parts of the county a few of 
the above varieties grow to the immense size of 
from five to seven feet in diameter. 

MANUFACTURES. 

The manufactures of the county are wagons and 
buggies, staves and cooper shops, foundries and 
breweries, cigars and tobacco, Avoolen and flouring 
mills, etc. Five of these flouring mills purchased, 
last year, 586,076 bushels of wheat, grown in the 
county, and manufactured it into 114,803 barrels of 
flour. One of these mills, at the great exposition 
held at Vienna in 1873, was awarded the gold medal 
and first prize for the best manufactured flour in the 
world. The same honor was won at the Fair at 
Paris. And at Philadelphia the world's honor was 
conferred upon the same mill for the third time. 
In each of these great exhibitions the flour was 
made from wheat grown in this county. In addition 
to the five mills named there are twelve others that 
do both a public and custom work. 

It is the agricultural and manufacturing in- 
terest that is looked to with greatest pride in point 
of dollars and cents. It is estimated that more than 
a million bushels of wheat were grown in this 
county last year. While wheat is the principal 
grain crop it is by no means the only one ; for it is 
just as true that all grains grows well in this soil, 
and there is no such a thing in the history of the 
State as a failure in the same year of any two kinds 
of grain in the county. 

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS. 

In addition to the school facilities of the county it 
is but right to note the fact that there are in the 
county forty- two good brick and frame churches. 
There are also eight or nine large grange halls in the 
county, three weekly papers, one tri-weekly, two 
monthlies and two semi-monthlies. 

There is no jieople on the earth who enjoy greater 
civil, social and political privileges than do the 
peoi)le of Cape Girardeau County. Every citizen 
feels that he is truly an American, and as such 
prides himself in upholding political tolerance, 
freedom of speech, and the right to worship accord- 
ing to the dictates of his own conscience. 

The laws are fairly and impartially enforced, and 
the county has'one of the finest court houses outside 
of St. Louis in the State. 

The county has never suffered from a great fraud 
of any kind, neither local or foreign, but has always 
been fortunate in having honest and intelligent 
olficials for her local government. 

VERY HEALTHFUL. 

In point of health the county is far above the 
average of the State, and persons suffei-ing with 
weak lungs will find the atmosphere so warm and 
moist as in many instances to give them great relief. 



106 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



CARROLL COUNTY. 



The area of Carroll County comprises about 
440,000 acres of land, three -fourths of which is now 
In cultivation; and not more than one-fifteenth of 
the county is what might be called poor land— even 
in Missouri, where all land is good — and has a pop- 
ulation of about 22,000. 

THE ASSESSED VALUATION 

of the county last year was about ?6, 000, 000, and the 
real value, according to the best judgment of those 
competent to know, is not less than .5^10,000,000. 

The tax last year assessed was $74,237.53. The de- 
linquent tax is less than $5,000. 

Tlie taxes are light, more than one-half of the 
■whole amount being for school purposes. No debt 
exists, but money is in the treasury. 

On the first day of January, 1880, there were 13,235 
head of fat cattle, and 39,998 head of fat hogs being 
fed in Carroll County, to be marketed this spring. 
If there were as many in any other county in the 
State, the fact has not yet been published. 

PRODUCTIVENESS. 

Carroll County raised last year, according to fig- 
ures received by the editor of the " CarroU Record " 
from the different townships, 8,000,000 bushels of 
corn, and 650,000 bushels of wheat. 

SHIPMENTS. 

There were shipped by the Wabash, St. Louis & 
Pacific Railway, which traverses the county, from 
the different stations of the county, in 1879, 4,245 car 
loads of freight, and received 984 car loads in the 
eame time. 

SOIL. 

The soil of Carroll County is unsurpassed in fer- 
tility, and corn, wheat, oats, tobacco, hemp, flax, 
potatoes, and fruit of all kinds are as sure a crop 
there as in any other part of the temperate zone. 

TIMBER AND PRICE OF LANDS. 

A fair proportion of the county is timber of good 
quality. 

The price of improved lands is from ten to thirty 
dollars per acre, according to the value of improve- 
ments, and there is plenty of good land tliat can be 
bought at these figures. 

MINERALS. 

Coal Is aoundant in tlie county, altliougli compar- 
atively no effort lias been made to develop it. 



One' of the best stone quarries in the State (the 
celebrated White Rock Quarrj-) is in Carroll County, 
at Miami station. The rock is used largely in the 
construction of bridges, and public buildings at St. 
Louis, Kansas City and St. Josepli, and tlie capitol 
building at Des Moines, Iowa, is mostly built of this 
stone. 

The Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway runs • 
tlirougli the county from east to west. 

The farmers and citizens of Caa-roll County are 
progressive, public-spirited, energetic in improve- 
ments, law-abiding, intelligent, church-going, and 
education-loving people. 

SCHOOLS. 

There are in the county one hundred and thirty 
school houses, mostly new and commodious build- 
ings, and about fifty churches, the Baptist church at 
CarroUton, costing $18,000. 

COUNTY SEAT. 

. The town of Cari-oUton has about 2,.500 inhabit- 
ants, has nine churches, two hotels, two banks, a 
machine shop, foundry, and all tlie other improve- 
ments of a iirst-class county seat, and a school 
house costing $42,000, and requiring a superinten- 
dent and eleven teachers, at an expense of about 
$7,000 per year. The enrollment of pupils is about 
six hundred and fifty. 

Carrollton has also a colored school, with a good 
school house, one hundred and thirty pupUs and 
two good teacliers. 

IMMIGRANTS INVITED. 

In every county there are restless, dissatisfle4 
men, who are possessed with the insane idea tliat 
they can do better elsewhere, or perhaps come 
nearer getting a lining without work, who are always 
ready to sell out at low prices, and seek a new 
" El Dorado " in another direction. And so it hap- 
Ijens that the opportunity to secure a good improved 
liome in Carroll County is as good now as it ever 
was. 

More energetic, public-spirited, live men are 
needed in the county ; and they wiU never be asked 
M'hat may be their politics or their religion. All 
good men will be welcomed to Carroll County, and 
may be assured that they will receive just us hearty 
and earnest a welcome as they may deserve. Tliere 
has never been any proscription for opinion's sake; 
no old political feuds remain to be fought out. 

To tlio immigrant is offered the advantages of a 
chcai) liome, surrounded by school houses, churo'hes 
and good society. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



107 



CARTER COUNTY. 



Carter County is bounded on the north by Sher- 
man and Reynolds Counties and on tlie east by 
Wayne and Butler Counties, on the west by Shan- 
non and Oregon Counties, and on the south by Ripley 

and Oregon Counties. 

/ 

ACREAGE AND ASSESSMENT. 

The county contains 303,977.33 acres, the assessed 
valuation of which is placed at $422,337. 

WATER COURSES. 

The water courses supplying irrigation, are Cur- 
rent River, Rogers' Creek, Mill Creek, Home Creek, 
Pike Creek, Chilton Creek, Barren Creek, Henpeck 
Creek, Ten Mile Creek and Little Black River. 

FORESTS. 

An abundance of the best timber is found in the 
forests of Carter County, classed as follows: pine, 
and the varieties of oak, hickory, ash, walnut, 
maple, elm, gum, locust, hackberry, persimmon and 
sassafras. 

MINERALS. 

The mineral resources consist of iron, lead and 



copper, and small quantities of zinc, but so far no 
mines have been developed. 

PRODUCTIONS. 

The soil is well adapted to the cultivation of corn, 
wheat, oats, rye, barley, potatoes, turnips, tobacco 
and cotton are raised on a small scale for home 
consumption. All kinds of vegetables do well, and 
the watermelon and muskmelon crop is very fine. 
Sorghum is cultivated by nearly all farmers. 

Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and whor- 
tleberries grow wild in profusion. Wild grapes are 
found on every hillside, and grape culture would 
undoubtedly prove profltable. 

FRUIT CULTURE AND CLIMATE. 

Apples bear well, and peaches miss two years out 
of three. The climate is mild but variable, and there 
is seldom much snow. 

POPULATION — MANUFACTURING. 

The population numbers about 3,000. The first 
settlers were chiefly from Tennessee and Kentucky, 
but nearly all nations are now repret^euted. The 
inhabitants are mostly farmers. The only manu- 
factures carried on are lumber, flour and meal. 



CASS COUNTY. 



This county has an average Avidth of twenty-six 
by twenty-seven miles, having about 450,000 acres of 
land within its borders ; it is situated upon the west- 
ern border of the State, and is within the .lines of 
thirty-seven and one-half degrees north latitude, 
being nearly on a line with the cities of St. Louis, 
Cincinnati and Wa.3hlngton, and with an elevation 
of about 1,000 feet above the level of the sea. From 
its i)Ositiou geographically, its condition as to cli- 
mate will be readily inferred, that it is free from the 
extremes of heat and cold that characterize the 
Northern and Southern States of the Union. The 
surface of the country ifi generally gently rolling, 
having but few precipitous blnft's, consequently 
nearly all of it is susceptible of cultivation; so em- 
pliatically true is this that it has been frequently 
remarked by those most conversant with the sur- 
face condition of the country, that it would be diffi- 
cult to find a quarter-section of land within Up lim- 
its, upon which a reasonably good farm could not 
be made. 

CHARACTER OF LAND AND TIMBER SUPPLY. 

The truth will be closely approximated by saying 
that three -fourths of its surface is prairie, the re- 



mainder timber; the timber lands producing the 
varieties usually found in the Middle and Western 
States, consisting of the different kinds of oak, hick- 
ory, elm, maple, honey locust, coffee bean and black 
walnut. Although immigrants from t)ie heavily tim- 
bered States formerly supposed the supply of tim- 
ber insuflicieut, the introduction of the osage orange 
for hedging purposes, which in this climate and soil, 
with proper attention, universally makes a cheap, 
beautiful and eflicient fence, has entirely reversed 
public opinion as to the adequacy of the timber sup- 
ply, the amount being now regarded as more than 
siifflcient for the demands of the county in the way 
of fuel, fen(ung and building material. A large 
amount of walnut timber is now being exported 
from the county. 

THE SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 

The soil of the county is very fertile, and produces 
excellent crops. The corn crop for the past thirteen 
yeai's, when planted in proper season and pro])erly 
cultivated, has produced from forty to seventy-five 
bushels per acre. The wheat crop for the past five 
years, where the land has been properly prepared 
and sown early, has probably been between eighteen 



108 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



and twenty bushels per acre. Oat.s, flax, castor 
he^s, tobacco, timothy, bine grass, clover and mil- 
let are successfully grown here. In no part of the 
United States is clover less damaged by severity of 
drouth afiid winter freezing than here. There are 
many fields in the county upon which clover was 
sown ten years ago, and not since resown, upon 
which there is to-day a perfect stand of clover, a 
fortunate circumstance in clover culture that seldom 
prevails in the clayey soils of the Eastern States. 
The most valuable features in the soil of this county 
are not fully embodied in the statements as to its 
fertility, but in its qualities in the way of durability; 
in its capacity to produce a long succession of good 
crops without the application of fertilizers. Incred- 
ible as it iTiay seem, it is nevertheless true, that 
many fields were to be seen in this county last year 
that have been for thirty consecutive years planted 
in corn, less perhaps two or three years when they 
were idle in consequence of the war, iipoif which 
grew forty bushels of corn to the acre ; these fields 
having at no time' been manured except by the 
plowing under of such vegetation as was to be 
found upon the land at the time of plowing. 

SEASONS AND CLIMATE. 
The notion is probably somewhat prevalent among 
the people of the Eastern Stata^; tliat "SYestern Mis- 
souri frequently suffers during the growing season 
from insufficiency of rain, but it certainly is not 
■warranted by the history of the last thirteen years, 
during which time but two seasons have been char- 
acterized by insufficiency of rain ; the years 1868 and 
1874 were dry, and the corn crop was materiallj' 
lessened in consequence thereof. The wlieat, oats 
and flax crops were not affected, in consequence of 
maturing before the drouMi became severe; and the 
early planted and properly cultivated corn gave a 
fair yield. 

THE WATEK SUPPLY. 
Big Creek and Grand River, with their numerous 
tributaries, constitute the principal streams of the 
county. In at least one-half of the county springs 
abound, and in the portion not thus favored good 
wells are obtained by digging tlie usual depth ; and 
owing to the compactness of the subsoil, ponds 
made by plow and scraper meet all tlie water de- 
mands for stock purposes, hence the practical and 
industrious farmer never suffers in consequence of 
inadequacy of stock water. 

FRUIT. 

AU the fruits grown in the central portion of the 
United States are successfully grown here, the 
principal varieties now cultivated being the apple, 
peach, pear, chei-ry and plum. In regard to size and 
flavor these varieties certainly compare favorably 
with those grown in Oliio, Indiana and Kentucky. 
The smaller variety, such as blackberry, raspberry, 
grape and strawberry flourish luxuriantly, so that 
this portion of the State may be truthfully said to be 
well adapted to fruit-growing, and owing to 
railroad facilities now existing and prospective, 
reaching Kew Mexico, Colorado and Texas, States 
that are now furnisliing and destined to remain 
desirable fruit markets. No locality offers greater 
inducements to the fruit-grower 



PRICE OF LAND. 

As gi-eat inducements in regard to the price of 
land as in many other portions of the State cannot 
be offered, and tliis is wliolly owing to the fact that 
a more fertile soil and of greater natural advan- 
tages. Owing, however, to the fact that many of the 
immigrants to the State invested in land beyond 
their means, there is at this time a large amount of 
private indebtedness, making necessary in very 
many cases the sale of landed property. This state ' 
of affairs is causing land to sell for much less than 
its intrinsic value. 

SHIPMENTS. 

' The following statement carefully prepared and 
gathered from the different agents along the lines 
of the railroads shows shipments by car lots during 
the year 1879, as follows : 

Cars. 

Hogs 42,060 head 701 

Cattle 9,342 " 519 

Cattle and hogs mixed | i 680 ''h ^^- 

Wheat 315,625 busli. 815 

Corn 307,600 " 769 

Flax 102,000 " 255 

Flour 138 

Horses 4 

Mules 4 

Oats 11 

Castor Beans 2 

Hay 18 

Walnut logs and lumber ,34 

Sheep 15 

Representing a value which, witli other products 

sliipped in small lots from the county, will swell to 

the sum of $2,000,000. 

TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

The village of Strasburg, located about two miles 
from the eastern boundary, contains about 100 in- 
habitants, M'ith one church and one school house. 

Pleasant Hill is nicely located near the foot of the 
slope of the high table lands of Cass and Jackson 
Counties, a small city of thrift and entei-prise, with 
a population of about 2,200 inhabitants, eleven 
churches, one school liouse, with capacity to seat 
five hundred children, tliree lodges, Masonic, Odd 
Fellows and Ancient Order United Workingmen. 
Pleasant Hill is noted among the traveling i)ublic 
of the Missouri Pacific Railway for its hotel accom- 
modations, the courteous manner of its inhabitants, 
etc. It is the junction of the St. Louis, Lawrence 
& Denver Railroad, and of a contemplated route 
(now having been cstablislied and work com- 
menced) with a prospec-t of its completion some- 
time this summer (1880) from Pleasant Hill tT) Butler, 
in Bates County, and from there south to Arkansas. 
The old road-bed of the Lexington, Lake & Gulf 
Railrqad running througli the city and this county, 
is alsd' being looked after by Eastern capitalists with 
a prospect of being ironed and finished and |>ut in 
running order. 

Raymorc is a town of about 100 inhabitants, with 
one church and one school liouse. 

Belton, within tliree and a half miles of the east- 
ern boundary of the State of Kansas, is a town of 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



109 



thrift, stir, energy and life, of about 500 inhabitants, 
five churches, one school hoi^se with a capacity to 
seat 200 children. 

Gunn City, a town of about 150 inhabitants, with 
one church, one school house, one lodge of Patrons 
of Husbandry. 

East Lyune, a town of about 300 inliabitants, with 
one school house and three lodges — Masons, Patrons 
of Husbandry and A. O. U. W. 

Harris onville is the county seat of Cass County, 
beautifully located on the summit of one of those 
high elevations, so attractive to the eye of those 
accustomed to the flat, monotonous prairies of Illi- 
nois. Standing a lew yards west of the court house 
you have a good view down the valley of Grand 
River. It has a iiopulation of about 1,500 inhabit- 
ants, five churches, one school house with a capac- 
ity to seat 300 children. 

Freeman is a town of about 300 inhabitants, one 
school house, three churches, two lodges — Masons 
and A. O. U. W. 

West Line is a village of about 150 inhabitants, one 
church and one school house. 

The interior or oif railroad towns, with their dis- 
tance from the county seat, are ; Dayton, southeast, 
seventeen miles ;J5verett, southwest, fourteen miles ; 
Peculiar, northwest, eight miles; Austin, south, 
twelve miles ; Index, southeast, sixteen miles, and 
Wadesburg, southeast, twenty-two miles. 

SCHOOL FACILITIES. 

There are no high schools or institutes of learning 
within the County of Cass, but the advantages as to 
obtaining a thorough common school education are 
nowhere any better. Cass County is divided into 
one hundred and fourteen school districts, each 
containing, at least, one good and comfortable school 
building, with sufficient capacity to accommodate 
all the pupils. 

The revenue derived by direct tax- 
ation by the county for school 
purposes in the year 1S79 was . . . $16,823 21 
Cass County apportionment of 

school revenue from State 5,177 63 

Interest on county school fund 
apportioned to school districts 
in 1S79 4,960 20 



Total for school purposes... $26,959 84 
The total number of children of school age is 
7,086. 

There is a permanent fund derived fi'om the State 
on account of the sale of 500,000 acres set apai-t for 
school purposes, which was apportioned to the coun- 
ties, and also from the sale of the sixteenth section 
and swamp lands within the County of Cass, and also 
fi'om fines, forfeitures and other sources, amounting 



to the sum of $91,917.14. This fund is kept intact 
and is loaned out by the county on notes secured by 
real estate and personal security at the interest of 
ten Tpev cent, per annum, and the interest thereon 
collected is each year distributed to the different 
school districts throughout the county on the basis 
of the enumeration of children being of school age 
in each district. 

PROTECTION FOU LIFE AND PROPERTY. 

Life and property are nowhere on the face of the 
civilized globe more secure than within the bound- 
aries of this county, and the report of J. R. Willis, 
Warden of the State Penitentiary, may be referred 
to, to prove the assei-tion. The County of Cass, with 
a population of over 20,000 people, ranking among 
the first counties in population and taxable wealth 
in the State, sent the following number of convicts 
to the State Penitentiary: 1878, 1; 1879, 2. Further 
reference to the report of the State Auditor shows 
that the total amount of criminal costs paid by the 
State on account of the county for criminal prose- 
cutions during those years was as follows : 1878, 
$822.39; 1879, $566.30. 

On August 27th, 1878, the crime of murder was 
committed within the borders of Cass County. Sep- 
tember 2:id, 1878, the criminal was indicted; on 
September 24th, 1878, a jui-y was empaneled, and 
September 25th, 1878, the penalty of death was ad- 
judged. On October 25lh, 1878, the sentence was 
executed. 

So is crime punished within its borders. What 
speaks more forcibly for the supremacy of the law 
for the intelligence, refinement and educational 
standard of Cass County than this record? 

Science and education go hand in hand and drive 
out superstition and lesser crime. 

Law and order are enforced in the strictest sense 
of the words. 

The utmost tolerance, religious and political, is 
made manifest by the people. The county offices of 
the county represent both of the great political 
parties of the day. Republican and Democrat. 

TAXATION — POPULATION. 

The rate of taxation for State and county pur- 
poses, on real estate and i)ersonal property, during 
the year 1879, was nine mills to tlie dollar. 

The population of Cass County is i)riucipally 
made up of former citizens of Illinois, Ohio, In- 
diana, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. Men of 
energy and perseverance, the pioneers of the 
West, who have bid farewell to the old home- 
steads East, and with their strong arms are turning 
the rich prairies of Western Missouri into one of the 
greatest granaries of the world. 



110 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



CEDAR COUNTY. 



Cedar County is in tlic seconii tier ot <",ounties east 
of the Kansas line, and tlie fourtli nortli of the 
Ai-kansas line ; has an area of about 489 square 
miles, or 319,050 acres of land. It was organized 
into a county on the 1-tth day of Februai-y, 1S45, and 
there are a number of persons in the county now 
who have lived in the counties of Polk, Dade and 
Cedar, and all on the same farm without moving. 
The county scat was located where it now is, and 
was first called Lancaster, afterwards changed to 
Freeuiout, and afterwards to Stockton. 

The eastern half of the county is a timbered 
country, with only a few small prairies ; the western 
is mostly prairie, with belts of timber along the 
streams, and beautiful groves on the high lands — in 
the distance resembling oi-chards more than groves 
of forest trees. 

Population in 1876, 9,912; school districts in 1876, 
seventy-three; value af real estate in 1880; $831,508; 
value of personal property, $007,065; total taxable 
wealth, $1,439,173; bonded indebtedness, none. 

THE SOIL 

is of three classes, known here as the white ask, 
black loam, and red clay or mulatto lands, all of 
which produce Svell in favorable seasons; but the 
two latter are best for all seasons and crops, and 
yield abundant crops of grass, tobacco, wheat, oats, 
corn, rye, millet, sorghum, flax, castor beans. The 
red land is peculiarly adapted to the growth of small 
grain, especially wheat and lye, and retains lis 
fertility for lifteen, twenty ®r thirty years of suc- 
cessive cultivation, with very little, if any, decrease 
in the yield, and without the use of any kind of 
fertilizer. 

XIMHKR. 

Ula(5k and white walnut, white, black and shell 
bark hickory, black-jack, sugar tree, common maple, 
red bud, pawpaw, sassafras, hackberry, black and 
blue ash, birch, chinquapin, persimmon, wild cher- 
ry, sycamore, elm, hazel, l)ox elder, sumac, mul- 
berry, and all the different .species of oak common 
to this latitude, and along the principal streams is 
found some cedar. The timber on some larger 
streams, and in some places on the highlands, is 
well grown and of a good quality, but a great deal 
of the upland timber is of rather an inferior quality, 
which has been caused by the ravages of lire, whicli 
annually kills a great deal of young timber, and 
scorches so much as to hinder the growth, atid thus 
dwarfs a large portion of the remainder. 

BUILDING STONE. 

There is considerable rock bordering on the rivers 
and larger streams which traverse the county, aftd 
some on the highlands away from them, but the ex- 
tensive bottoms and a large portion of our uplands, 
are clear of rock. Flint, lime and sandstone are the 
most common, but there are also considerable quan- 
tities of white and yellow cotton rock, which is ex- 
cellent for building purposes — being soft Avhen taken 



from the quarries, and continually hardens by ex- 
posure to tlie atmosphere. The white cotton rock 
takes on nearly as flne a polisli as marble and does 
not tarnish by time. Whei-e tlie land is too rocky 
for cultivation it will produce grass and timber, both 
as necessary to tlie farmer as any crops he can pro- 
duce, and there is not one acre of laud in this 
county so rocky that it cannot be cultivated in fi-uit 
or grape crops. 

WATEli 

is found In thousands of never failing springs as 
pure as ever ran from the earth, and can be had 
nearly anywhere in the county by digging from 
fifteen to forty feet deep. The county is traversed 
by Big and Little Sac Kivers, Spring, Bear, Cedar, 
Horse and Alder Creeks, all flowing in a northerly 
direction ; and, being fed by numerous springs, 
furnish water, and upon their banks are manj- un- 
tenanted and valuable sites for mills and other 
machinery, which, when the population and de- 
mands of the country require them, will be utilized. 
But at present tlie water flows lazUy along the beds 
of the streams for many miles, occasioniilly moving 
the wheels of a mill in its passage to the sea, but 
seemingly of no other use except to quench the 
thirst of herds of stock, and as a home for the finny 
tribe, wliich are found in Uirge (luantities, and are 
very palatable. 

CHOPS AND CAPACITY OF THE LAND. 

Wheat yields from ten to thirty bushels to the 
acre, but the farmer may safely count on an average 
of ten to twenty bushels, and the crop has never 
been a failure witliin the memory of tlje oldestlnhal). 
itant. 

live succeeds well, but has been but little culti- 
vated until within the last three or four years. It is 
now attracting the attention of farniex's, who con- 
sider one crop of it almost equal to two ordinary 
crops of otlier grain, as it furnishes excellent pas- 
turage for stock during the winter and spring 
mouths, produces a large yield of grain in harvest, 
and is perhaps the'most certain crop produced in 
the country. 

Oats generally yield large crops and are exten- 
sively cultivated. 

Corn succeeds well, and is the staple crop of the 
country. 

Timotliy and clover Roth succeed well wherever 
tried, but from the fact that the wild prairies fur- 
nish abundance of, free pasturage and hay for winter 
use, but little attention has been paid to those crops 
as yet. In the older settled portions of the county, 
where the wild grasses have been eaten out by 
stock, olue grass is rapidly taking its place, and ere a 
great many years, all of the county that Is not under 
cultivation, will be one unbroken blue grass sward. 

Cotton does well, but is not much c'uUivated. 
Six hundred pounds of seed cotton has been pro- 
duced on one-fourth of an acre in this county, which 
shows how well it will succeed. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



Ill 



As fine tobacco as is produced in the United 
States (the most favored regions of Virginia not 
exceptedj can be grown here. Whole crops, tlie 
plants of which would average near five feet high 
after they were topped, and of very fine quality, are 
seen, and for quantity and quality combined Cedar 
County challenges the world as a tobacco region. 
Jler soil and climate have combined to do their best 
for the tobacco-raisers; and all any one needs to do 
to make a fortune is to get some of the cheapest 
land (for it is well known that Post Oak Flats, con- 
sidered the poorest land for other purposes, pro- 
duces the finest tobacco), hire some hands and go to 
raising tobacco ; or, if he cannot hire hands, let him 
raise a crop or two himself, and he can soon hire all 
the help he wants. The crop will bring from sev- 
enty-five to one hundred dollars per acre. One hand 
can cultivate three acres, besides attending to other 
crops; this, at the lowest rate, showing $225 as the 
product of one hand's labor in a tobacco crop for 
one season. Children that would be useless in 
ordinary crops can do a great deal of work in a 
tobacco crop, and there is no reason why every man 
in the country blessed with health might not have 
money — at least enough to supply his necegsities — 
if he would turn his attention to tobacco. 

Cedar is second to but one county in Southwest 
Missouri in the amount of tobacco produced, and if 
there were a home market and a factory for prepar- 
ing the raw material for exportation, the crop would 
Boon be enormous and a source of untold wealth to 
our citizens, stimulating every department of indus- 
try and enterjirise. 

I5room corn is a crop that until the last few years 
has been but little cultivated here, but it is found 
that it succeeds as well as could l)e wished, and 
pays a large ptoflt on the labor and cai)ital invested. 

Flax grows in great perfection and produces from 
eight to twenty bushel of seed per acre, which sells 
at from ninety cents to $1.25 per bushel here. It re- 
quires but little labor, and in three months from the 
time the seed is sown the farmer can realize the 
proceeds of the crop in cash. 

FRUIT. 

This is peculiarly a fruit country. Apples, pears, 
peaches, cherries, grapes, and in fact every kind of 
fi-uit i)eculiar to this climate, grow here in great 
perfection. The peach, that most delicious of all 
fruits, can be had in great ab'undance by all who 
will take the trouble to scatter the seed about their 
farms. The trees live to agi-eat age, and for many 
years are thrifty and prosperous. 

STOCK-KAISINC 

is the principal business, and the one from which 
farmers at present derive the greatest amount of 
their income. Horses, mules, cattle, sheep and 
hogs are extensively raised, and the fact fliat buyers 
are always ready to buy all the sur])lus stock makes 
this a superior country for the enterprising stock- 
grower. 

" There are thousands of acres of wild lands which 
produce heavy crops of wild grass, and free pastur- 
age for all, and from which hay is taken in the sum- 
mer to feed stock in the winter— is all that is neces- 
sary for wintering cattle, and costs nothing but the 
labor of saving. 



MINERAL. 

Iron, copper, lead, zinc and antimony are known 
to exist in the county, but on account of the dis- 
tance to railroad transportation, the mineral re- 
sources have never been developed. Enough is 
known, however, to warrant the assertion that iron 
and zinc exist in large quantities and of sufficient 
richness to pay a large profit if machinery were at 
hand to reduce the crude ore. Coal is found in 
various pans of our county, and in some places in 
great abundance, more especially in the western, 
southwestern and northeastern portions, and will 
doubtless in the far future be the principal article 
used for fuel in those sections of the county. At 
pi-esent the extent of the coal beds are unknown, as 
they have never been developed any more than 
what became necessary to procure coal for the 
blacksmith shops of the country. It is found in the 
banks of the streams and in many other places near 
the surface. 

RAILHOADiS. 

Cedar County has no railroad traversing any part 
of its territory, nor has it any bonded or other 
indebtedness on account of subscription to any 
road during the last years of the speculative mania 
in county bonds. 

It is needless to say, therefore, that the condition 
of Cedar, as regards railroads, is as good as, if not 
better than, any county in the State. The Missouri, 
Kansas & Texas Railway furnishes access to the 
south and to the Gulf. North and east by the same 
line the markets of Chicago and St. Louis open to 
the county, with preference in favor of the former. 
This fact has been discovered by the business men 
of St. Louis, and to secure what has heretofore 
seemed to belong to that city— tlie trade of South- 
western Missouri and Southern Kansas. 

Schell City, twenty eight miles northwest of Stock- 
ton, on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, is the 
shipping point, and is connected by daily mail; 
Nevada City, thirty-eight miles west on the same 
road; Springfield, fifty miles southeast on the St. 
Louis & San Francisco Railroad, and Ash Grove at 
the present terminus of the Springfield & North- 
western Railroad, thirty-five miles southeast. The 
Sedalia, "Warsaw & Southwestern Narrow Gauge 
Railroad, now in course of construction, and which 
will be completed to Warsaw, fifty miles northeast 
of Stockton, and which it is confidently believed 
will be extended in this direction at an early date, 
places the county in such a position relative to un- 
completed railroads that it is not reasonable to 
suppose that it will be long without one or more 
traversing it. 

SCHOOLS. 

Nearly every neighborhood in the county is sup- 
plied with a school house, most of them being good 
substantial buildings, and the inhabitants take a 
lively intei-est in the cause of education. 

In every district there is a school from four to six 
nionths in each year, as desired and expressed by the 
inhal)itants of the various districts at their annual 
school meetings. The county has a large State and 
county public school fund which is annually, in- 
creasing, so tliat but little taxation is required to 
sustain the public schools after a school house is 
built. 



112 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



CLIMATE. 

The winters are usually short and mild, two to 
four months being all that is generally necessary to 
feed stock. Last winter, 1879-80, was unusually 
mild, so much so that the heaviest ice was only 
three or four inches thick, and the winters are 
frequently so mild that no ice for summer use is 
saved, and by the 20th to the 25th of April, the 
forests are as green as in midsummer. 

PRINCIPAL TOWNS. 

Stockton, the county seat, has a population of 
from 400 to 500 inhabitants, and the usual number of 
business houses for a place of its size. It is twenty- 
eight miles southeast of Schell City on the Missouri, 
Kansas & Texas Railway — the nearest railroad 
point, and thirty-eight miles east of Nevada, Mo., 
on the same road, and is connected with both places 
by a tri-weekly stage arriving and departing on 
alternate days. It is fifty miles northwest of 
Springfield, Missouri, on the Atlantic & Pacific 
Railroad with which it is also connected by stage. 
Stockton has a steam flouring mill, a carding ma- 
chine, a tannery, a wagon and plow factorJ^ 

Paynterville, eight miles east of Stockton, has a 
post-oflice, two or three stores, a blacksmith shop, 
and is in a thickly settled portion of the county. 

Sacville, eight miles north of Stockton, on the 
west bank of Sac River, has a post-oflice, two stores, 
a blacksmith shop, and a saw, grist and flouring 
mill, on one of the finest water-powers in south- 
west Missouri. 

Lebeck, fifteen miles northwest of Stockton, on 
the Stockton and Schell City stage line, has a post- 
oflice, two stores, a blacksmith and wagon shop 
and is surrounded by a beautiful country. 

Clintonville, eighteen miles northwest of Stockton, 
has several stores, a post-oflice and blacksmith 
shop and is also surrounded by a beautiful section 
of country capable of sustaining a dense population. 
In this neighborhood is a German settlement of 
thrifty enterprising farmers. 

Virgil City, the main street of which is the line 
between Cedar and Vernon counties, is eighteen 
miles west of Stockton, on the Stockton and Nevada 
stage line, has 150 to 200 inhabitants, a steam saw 
and grist mill and the usual amount of business 
houses for a place of the size, and is in a delightful 
section of country. 



White Hare, ten miles southwest of Stockton, was 
a thriving little village, but the destructive fires of 
the late war swept it away so that the place now 
has only a post-oflice and a respectable school 
building, the upper story of which is used as a hall 
by Kree JIasons and Odd Fellows. 

Cane Hill, nine miles southeast of Stockton, be- 
tween the two Sac liivers, is a thriving little village 
with sevex-al stores, a post-ottice and blacksmith 
shop. . 

Pleasant View is a post-olflce eight miles north- 
west of Stockton, on the Stockton & Schell City 
Stage Line. 

Silver Creek is a jjost-oflice on the Stockton & 
Osceola Road, four miles north of Stockton. 

TAXATION. 

The county having no bonded indebtedness or 
railroad tax to pay, taxes are low. The entire tax. 
State and county, for 1876 was one dollar and fifty 
cents on the one hundred dollars valuation, except 
school tax, which is generally small and varies in 
different districts, and, with perhaps one exception, 
it has not been above one dollar and fifty-five cents 
on the one hundred dollars valuation since the war. 

RELIGION. 

The various religious denominations exist here as 
elsewhere in the AVestern States, and there are 
several church edifices in different sections of the 
country. 

PRICE OF LANI>. 

Wild land can be had for from two to eight dollars 
and improved land from four to twenty dollars per 
acre, according to locality, quality and improve- 
ments, and much of the wild land can be purchased 
on long time and easy terms. 

now TO GET THERE. 

Those coming from the Eastern, Middle and South- 
ern States should come to St. Louis, thence by the 
Missouri Pacific Railway to Sedalia, thence by the 
Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, seventy miles 
southwest, to Schell City ; and those living north 
and in the lake region should come to Hannibal, on 
the Mississippi, and Kansas City, on the Missouri 
River, thence to Sedalia and Schell City, thence to 
Stockton. 



CHARITON COUNTY. 



Chariton County is situated on tlie north side of 
the Missouri River, and in the central part of that 
section of the State known as North Missouri. It is 
one of the oldest counties in the State, having been 
organized on the 16th of November, 1820. It is 
bounded on the east by Randolph and Howard 
Counties, on the north by Linn County, on the west 
by Livingston and Carroll Counties, and on the 
south by Saline County, the Missouri River forming 



the boundary line between Cliariton and Saline. It 
contains an area of 749 squave miles, and ir., there- 
fore, one of the largest counties in North Missouri 

CLIMATE. 

The climate of North Missouri is very similar to 
that of Maryland, Northern Kentucky, and Southern 
Ohio. The winters here are neitlier rigorous nor 
prolonged. Spring sets in early, and the seasons of 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



113 



extrer,>o lient of the summer is of short duration, 
not ut-ually extending later than tlie middle of 
August, after which the teini^crature falls, and 
summer gradually merges into autumn, which in- 
variably brings to us a delightful season, often 
extending far into the month of December— thus 
furnishing the most favorable climate for all out- 
door work, and agricultural pursuits, as well as for 
the growth and improvement of all kinds of stock. 

WATEK SUPPLY. 

There are a number of inexhaustible streams 
which course through the county, generally from 
northeast to southwest, which furnish an abundance 
of water for the successful operation of all kinds of 
machinery for manufacturing purposes, and sup- 
plies all the wants of the planter as well as for the 
stock-grower. 

SOIL AND AGRICULTURE. 

Altliough there are many evidences of latent min- 
eral wealth underlying various sections of the 
county, yet that interest, whatever it may be, is in a 
manner untouched, much less developed, and is 
uncared for at present. The great boast and pride 
of Chariton County consists chiefly in her unsur- 
passed wealtli in soil and agriculture. The uplands, 
as well as the valleys along the numerous streams 
in the county, are marvelously ricli and productive, 
and whenever cultivated iiroduce most wonderful 
crops of cereals and grasses. The northern portion 
of the county is mostly high, rolling prairie, inter- 
spersed with tracts of forest lands, especially along 
the water- courses. The southern portion of the 
county is extensively timbered witli oak, hickory, 
elm, maple, black walnut, mulberry, ash, linn, syca 
more, box-elder, pa\\'paw, persimmon, pecan, hack- 
berry, and wild cherry. To those familiar with 
the nature of such trees, the excellent character of 
the 6# 1 and climate is at once apparent. 

FRUITS. 

Under the management of the experienced horti- 
culturist fruits of all kinds peculiar to such a soil 
and climate are grown in great variety and quan- 
tity, such as apples, peaches, pears, grapes, cherries, 
apricots, plums, strawberries, raspberries, black- 
berries, currants, and other small fruits. 

TOBACCO. 

From the early settlement of the county tobacco 
has been the leading production of the farmers, the 
crop in years past having amounted to as much as 
15,000,000 jjounds in one year, which, when com- 
manding from four to ten dollars per hundred 
pounds, was a source of very great revenue to the 
people. The attention and efforts of tlie farmers 
during the past year has been directed more to the 
production of corn, wheat, oats, rye^ timothy and 
clover, preparatory, it»is hoped, to a more general 
effort in the future at stock-raising, a l)usiness for 
which the county is so eminently fitted. 

WHEAT. 

Wheat has been very successfully grown l^y many 
farmers, much of it being of ii superior quality, and 



unsurpassed in quantity per acre. The cultivation 
of wheat will receive more attention from the 
farmers in the future, there now being the largest 
acreage ever sown in the county, and from present 
indications bids fair in the next harvest to present a 
most abundant yield. The crop of 1879 amounted 
to 273,133 bushels. The corn crop of 1879 in Chari- 
ton County amounted to 4,899,060 bushels, and other 
crops sown returned a correspondingly large yield. 

STOCK RANGE. 

There is yet much good stock range remaining 
uninclosed here. Blue grass grows spontaneously 
everywhere throughout the county, and wherever 
I properly cai-ed for, furnishes the finest pasturage 
for all kinds of stock, equal in every respect to tlie 
famous blue grass region of Kentucky. During the 
past winter the pastures and timothy meadows have 
been very fine, so that little feeding has been 
i-equired for young cattle, sheep and horses. 

The business of raising and feeding stock, hereto- 
fore not properly appreciated by many of the 
farmers, is now increasing more rapidly than any 
\)ther one interest in the county. 

STOCK INTERESTS. 

The following shows the number and kinds of 
stock owned in Chariton County, as ascertained by 
a careful estimate made for that purpose : Cattle,, 
40,287; sheep, 22,058; hogs, 73,787; horses, 10,305; 
mules, 3,709; jacks and jennets, 87; cattle fed for 
market during the fall and winter, 7,203; hogs fed 
for market during the fall and winter, 31,437. 

TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES. 

There are sixty -seven miles of railroad in the 
county, embracing a portion of the main line and 
two branches of tlie Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific 
Railway. The main line, running from St. Louis to 
Kansas City, crosses the county from east to west a 
little south of the center, twenty-eight miles of the 
road being in the county. A bi-anch of the same 
road runs from Salisbury, in the center of the eastera 
portion of the county, to Glasgow, on the Missouri 
River, passing through the southern part of the 
county a distance of sixteen miles. Another branch 
of the road runs from Brunswick, als< on the Mis- 
souri River, to Omaha, Nebraska, crossing the Han- 
nibal & St. Joe Railroad at Cliillicothe, thirty-nine 
miles from Brunswick, twenty-four miles of which 
are in Chariton County, and passes up the Grand 
River valley in a noi'thwestern direction. 

In addition to the many advantages and facilities 
furnished by these roads running through the 
county, the Hannibal & St. Joe Railroad, located 
just over the line in Linn County, and extending 
along tlie entire length of the northern boundary 
line of Chariton, furnishes the citizens in that 
portion of tlie county convenient transportation for 
all their suiiilus stock and produce. While those in 
the southern portion of the county have choice be- 
tween competing railroad lines and the Missouri 
River which flows along the southern boundary of 
the county for a distance of forty miles, thus afford- 
ing water transportation to all great commercial 
marts at the lowest rates. 



114 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



FREE SCHOOLS. 

Perhaps no other county in the State possesses a 
larger public school fund than is to be found in 
Chariton County, or a better system of free schools, 
extending tliroughout all the rural districts of the 
county. The extensive land grants made by the 
General Government to the State of Missouri for 
free school purjjoses, including eacli sixteenth sec- 
tion of land, furnishes a fund sufficient to maintain 
a good free school in each school district in the 
county for at least four months in the year. The 
public schools in any district may be continued as 
much longer as may be desired by a vote of the 
people at their annual meeting, lixing the time and, 
rate of taxation for that purpose. 

There are one hundred and fourteen school dis- 
tricts in Chariton County, in which suitable school 
houses have been erected, and in whicli there are 
about seven thousand children being educated. 

RELIGIOUS INTERESTS.. 

There are fifty-three church buildings in Chariton 
'County, and the church organizations represented 
are the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Christian, 
Lutherans, Iiipiscopalians, Catholics, and various 
other organizations, all sufficiently interested in the 
salvation of mankind to keep the way of life plainly 
in view. 

CITIES AND TOWNS. 

Keytesville, tlie county seat, near the center of 
the county, on the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific 
. Railway, one hundred and seventy -five miles from 
St. Louis, and one hundred and one from Kansas 
City. Its situation is a liigli point on the east bank 
of the Muscle Fork, a large stream affording excel- 
lent water-power, and surrounded by an inexhaust- 
ible supply of timber suitable for manufacturing 
farming implements and furniture, making it a 
favorable point for the location of manufacturing 



establishments. The court house, built of brick, ia 
one hundred and ten by sixty-two feet, two stories 
high, cost near $75,000, and is one of the finest and 
most commodious in the State. Keytesville has 
one newspaper. 

Brunswick is located on the Missouri River, and 
at the junction of tlie Omaha Branch of the Wabash, 
St. Louis & Pacific Railway. The recent comisletion 
of the branch road to Omaha adds new interest to 
the place as a railroad center. The city has two 
newspapers, two public school buildings, a commo- 
dious city hall, ten churches, six dry goods estab- 
lishments, nine grocery and i)rovision stores, three 
hardware and farming implement establishments, 
two lumber yards, three leaf tobacco factories, and 
other business in proportion. 

Salisbury is situated near t)ie center of the eastern 
portion of the county, on the Wabash, St. Louis & 
Pacific Raihvayl at the junction of the Glasgow 
Branch of that road. It has a .population of 1,000, 
one newspaper. Masonic and Odd Fellows organiza- 
tion. There are six dry goods stores, and other 
business industries, with the different professions 
proportionately represented. It is a beautiful 
place, favorably located. 

Mount St. Mary's is located in Bee Branch town- 
ship. The chief object attached to the place is the 
institution of learning located there, which was 
founded by tlie Franciscan Fathers. The institu- 
tion has an area of twelve acres of land, beautifully 
parceled off in vineyard, orchard, flower yard and 
play-ground for the students. The monastery is 
sixty by forty feet, two stories high ; tlie chui'ch is 
forty by thirty-five feet, with a tower and beUs. 
Besides there is a good district school attached to 
said buildings, which has from sixty to seventy 
scholars. 

There are twelve other towns in Chariton County, 
so located in different sections tliat tliose living in 
the remotest districts arc within a few miles of a 
good trading point. 



CHRISTIAN COUNTY 



Christian County occupies a central i)osition in 
what is known as Southwest Missouri, bounded 
on the north by Green and Webster, on the east by 
Douglas, south by Stone and Taney, and on the 
west by Stone and Lawrence Counties, and em- 
braces an area of 561 square miles. Situated near the 
summit but on the southern slope of the Ozark 
range, having, perhaps, an average elevation of ten 
thousand feet above the ocean. The land is gener- 
ally level enough for agricultural purposes, but 
undulating and well drained, the valleys of the nu- 
merous small streams being but little depressed 
below the common level. But in the southern and 
eastern portion of the county some of the streams 
cut quite deep, and the hills are abrupt and rise to a 
hight of two or tliree hundi-cd feel ab()\e the 
vallevs. 



No part of the West is more favored as to climate 
than Christian County. The surface of the county 
is rolling, and near some of the streams liilly and 
slopes gently to the south, being drained by the 
tributaries of White River. The strong winds and 
violent changes of temperature that render the 
treeless plains of the West so disagreeable are 
wanting here. There are no swamps or overflowiu"- 
lands from which noxious exhalation can arise. In 
fact the climate is both agreeable and salubrious. 
Winters are short and mild, summers long and 
temperate, with a dry atino.^i)liei-c favorable to 
health. 



The county is well watered \>y numerous : mail 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



115 



streams that run swiftly over gravelly beds, none 
large enough for navigation, but affording abund- 
ance of water-power for mill and other machinery, 
and are well supplied with choice varieties of fish, 
and have recently been stocked with California 
salmon. 

TIMBER. 

The bottoms of nearly all the sti-eams -have a 
heavy gi-owth of the useful varieties of timber, such 
as burr oak, white oak, red oak, maple, walnut, wild 
cherry, etc. The slopes near the streams are also 
generally well timbered, but the flat and rolling 
lands especially west of Finley, have at no very dis- 
tant day in the past been prairie lands, but now 
have a growth of fine young hickory, black-jack, 
plum and crab-apple, with an undergrowth of hazel 
and sumac. The growth indicates tlie character of 
the soil of these uplands, which is equal to the best 
prairie lands. In the eastern part of the county 
hills and valleys alike are well timbered. On the 
hills are level lands of considerable extent, gener- 
ally unoccupied, known as Post Oak, Black Oak and 
White Oak Flats. 

WILD FRUITS. 

Blackben-ies, raspberries, strawberries and per- 
simmons a're distributed throughout the county. 
Black haw, red haw and crab-apple in the valleys 
and hazel uplands. Pawpaw, gooseberries, mul- 
berries, in rich bottoms, are abundant. Serviceber- 
ries grow along the streams. Iliickleberries on 
the flint hills in southeast jjortion of the county. 
Grapes, winter and summer, of different varieties, 
grow and intei'mingle ; on good soils they are very 
plentiful, and of fine variety in Finley bottoms and 
on slopes and uplands near the stream. These lands 
are better adapted to vineyards than most of the 
lands in the West where that industry is attemj)ted. 

SPRINGS. 

The greater portion of Christian County is bounti- 
fully supplied M'ith springs of excellent water, espe- 
cially so in the neighborhood of the streams already 
named. The water is what is called .hard water, be- 
ing impregnated with lime, and is cool, healthful 
and agreeable. Several springs in the neighborhood 
of Ozark, issue from caves of considerable extent, 
having solid limestone walls. The Smallrn cave, two 
miles north of Ozark, is wortliy of mention, being 
very large, about forty feet at the entrance, and re- 
tains its size some distance, running back horizon- 
tally into the hill. 

BUILDING ROCK. 

Limestone crops out on the breaks near the 
streams, and quarries of good building rock may be 
opened ia many places. 

LEAD MINES. 

The lead mines two miles south of Ozark, known 
as Alma Mines, are &,mong the richest in Southwest 
Missouri. Two smelters are in operation, and a 
large amount of lead is being raised. On Swan 
Creek, smelters are operated, and lead iu paying 
quantities is found in different locations several 
miles apart. The late rise in the price of lead has 
stimulated mining, and a large mining population 
may sooa be expected. This will give a better 
market for many of the surplus products of the 
farms. 



TOWNS. 

Ozark, the county seat of Christian County, is a 
small town pleasantly ■situated on a slight elevation 
on the east side of Finley Creek, and near the 
geographical center of the county. A mail coach 
passes to and from the city of Springfield, fifteen 
miles distant, daily. The mail is also daily from the 
south. Ozark has three genei-al stores, one tin and 
stove store, one bakery, one butcher shop, two boot 
and shoe shops, one grist mill, one tobacco factory, 
two newspapers, one carpenter shop, two black- 
smith shops, one church and one excellent school. 
Finley Creek affords fine water-power, and Ozark 
mity ere long be a manufacturing town. Wild farm- 
ing lands, one to five miles from Ozark, may be 
bought at from two to five dollars per acre ; improved 
land at from three to ten dollars an acre. 

Billings is situated in the western portion of the 
county, and on the St. Louis & San Francisco Rail- 
way, the only railroad town in the county. Billings 
is a lively little business town, and the country is 
fast improving about it. 

Kenton, on Finley Creek, six miles east of Ozark, 
has two stores, a mill, blacksmith shop, post-offlce 
and school house, iu the midst of a fine farming 
district. 

Highlandville is situated eight miles southwest of 
Ozark, on an oak flat and near the open highlands 
known as Gideon Barrens, a fine farming and graz- 
ing district. There are now several business houses 
and a post-offi(;e. Farming lauds are cheap, and 
there are still some Government lands subject to 
homestead in the vicinity of Highlandville. 

Sparta, eight miles cast of Ozark, on the divide be- 
tween Finley and Swan, has a store, post-office and 
blacksmith shop. This divide has some of the best 
farms in the county, and some excellent lands, un- 
improved, that may be purchased very cheap. 

Boston is situated on Swan Creek, about fourteen 
miles east of Ozark, in the vicinity of Swan Creek 
Mines; has one store and a post-office. 

Swanville, six miles below, has one store. The 
soil along this creek is black loam and very pro- 
ductive, the slopes and benches, though not large, 
are veiy rich. Mucli of the laud yet belongs to the 
Government, though the best has been entered. 
Laiids with some improvement may be had at from 
two and a half to five dollars per acre. 

COUNTY FINANCES. 

Christian County is sound financially. She has no 
bonded debt and there is no judgment against the 
county. Her warrants are worth one hundred 
cents on the dollar. The tax levy for 1879 was 
^L.'JS on the ?100 valuation. 

CHURCHES. 
There are but few houses built and used especially 
for religious Avorship in the county. Most of the 
church societies meet and worship in the school 
buildings. 

SCHOOLS. 

There are about fifty organized public schools in 
the county. The length of term taught in each year 
is six months. Cost of schools the past year, .$7,188. 
Tlie capital school fund of the county amounts to 
about ?10,000. 



116 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



CROPS. 
The farmers have good reason to he satisfied with 
the result of their labors the past season. The 
wheat yield was not large, hut the quality was very 
fine. The best wheat lands, when properly cultiva- 
ted, yield from twenty to thirty bushels per acre. 
Corn, an average crop — fifty bushels per acre is con- 
sidered a good yield. Oats were injured by the dry 
weather in the early pai-t of the season. Hay cut 
short by dry weather in the spring. Cotton, but 
little planted, the yield was very satisfactory. Po- 
tatoes, the yield was very good — both Irish and 
sweet do well. Vegetables, the yield was bountiful. 

FRUIT. 
Apples, a light crop; peaches almost a failure, 
cherries, a light crop ; strawberries, raspberries, 
etc., an average crop. Universally late frosts in the 
spring injured the fruit. 

STOCK. 
The people realized more money this year from 
the sale of cattle, hogs and sheep than they have in 
anj' one year for several years past. 



SOCIETY. 

The population are peaceable, law-abiding ant 
intelligent. There has not been a murder .commit- 
ted in the county for the past six years, and our jail 
is empty. The county poor farm is only occupied 
by the tenant in charge — no paupers ; not a saloon 
in the county. Two Weekly papers are published in 
Ozark, and sustained by the population of the 
county — onl)^ about 10,000. A considerable number 
of immigrants have come, during the last two years, 
from different States, and all seem to be satisfied 
with the natural advantages, and with the state of 
society. Nearly one-half of those who have settled 
here during the past year, have come from Kansas 
and Texas. It is doubtful whether any portion of . 
the West can offer more inducements to persons 
wishing to secure comfortable homes with agree- 
able surroundings at small expense than Christian 
County. 

Industrious farmers, mechanics, miners and capi- 
talists with money to invest wiU find situations in 
Christian County. 



CLARK COUNTY. 



This county is located in the extreme northeast, 
touching tlie boundary lines of Iowa and Illinois, 
and is separated from Iowa on the north by the Des 
Moines River, and from Illinois on the cast by the 
Father of Waters. The surface land is principally 
composed of undulating prairie. The portions near 
the creeks and rivers are broken and hilly, except 
in that part bordering on the Mississippi. The 
streams are skirted witli a heavy growth of black 
walnut, butternut, hickory, sycamore, oak, ash, elm, 
honey locust, Cottonwood, and all other varieties 
indigenous to North Missouri. The greater portion 
of tlie soil is a rich, pliable loam ; on the bottoms it 
is a rich, sandy loam. There arc 325,238 acres of land 
in Clark County— 210,826 ))eing prairie land and the 
remainder, 108,412, timber. Between the Des Moines 
and Pox Rivers lies a body of 12,000 acres of bottom 
land, protected by levees. This is the finest char- 
acter of corn land in the State. 

RIVERS AND SPRINGS. 

The county is Avatered by the Mississippi, Des 
Moines', Fox, Fabius and Wyaconda Rivers. Honey, 
Bear and Sugar Creeks also traverse it and are trib- 
utary to the Mississippi. The most of these streams 
aftord a water-power that might be utilized toad 
vantage. Factories of the largest class cnn be, and 
are run upon the Des Moines. Springs are numer- 
ous, and excellent water can be obtained in all i>arts 
of the county at depths ranging from ten to forty 
feet. 



AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 

The staples are corn, oats, rye, timothy, wheat, 
potatoes, and blue grass. Beans, buckwheat and 
barley are cultivated to a considerable extent. Clo- 
ver and timothy are the pasture grasses. Clover is 
taking a strong hold in every part not tilled. Con- 
siderable attention is paid to cattle feeding, and the 
location ."ind transportation facilities afford the ben- 
efit of both Cliicago and St. Louis markets. The 
county is well adapted to fruit-groM'ing, especially 
apples, peaches, peai-s, cherries and grapes. All 
improved farms have orchards. Many farmers are 
turning their attention to wool -growing, and find it 
a most profitable investment. 

RAILROADS. 

The Jrissouri, Iowa & Nebraska Railway passes 
from east to west across the county, liaving within its 
l)()rders twenty-eight miles of track. The Keokuk & 
Kahoka Railroad has twenty-live miles of road-lied 
partially completed. The Keolaik & Des Moines 
Railroad (branc)i of Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 
Railroad) has twenty-five miles of track immediately 
adjacent to the northern boundary. The Burlington 
& Southwestern Kaihoad passes within one mile of 
the northeastern boundary. 

MANUP ACTOHIKS. 

There are tliree flouring mills, seven saw mills, 
one woolen factory, one distillery and several plow, 
wagon, buggy and furniture factories at Kahok^ 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



117 



Athens, Liiray, Fairmont and Alexandria. Also 
located at Alexandria are the machine shops of the 
Missoui-i, Iowa & Nebraska Railway. Thei'e are two 
grain elevators at Kahoka. 

SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. 

Tliere are ninety-eight public school houses, hav- 
ing an attendance of .S,000 children. These schools 
are kept open an average of six months per j'ear. 
Twenty-five thousand dollars are expended annually 
for teachers' services. Clark County ranks second 
to no county in tlie State in the interest manifested 
in i)ublic education. There is one regularly char- 
tered college in the county, located at Alexandria. 
The college has been in successful operation for ten 
years. 

There are twenty church edifices in the county, 
and services are also held at many of the school 
houses. All of the ijrotestant denominations are 



repi-esented, and the Catholics have good houses of 
worship at both Alexandi-ia and St. Marysville. The 
Germans have services in their native langiiage in 
four or Ave places. ^ . 

NEWSPAPERS. 

There are three newspapers in the county. Two 
Democratic, the "Democrat" and the "Gazette," 
publislied at Kahoka, the county seat, and one Re- 
publican, the " Commercial," piiblislied at Alexan- 
dria. 

PRICE OF LAND 

varies according to improvement from live to fifty 
dollars per acre. 

TAXATION. 

The rate of taxation for 18S0 was $1.40 per $100 
valuation, school tax included. 



CLAY COUNTY. 



Clay County is bounded on the south by Jackson 
County, the Missouri River passing between. A 
bridge and splendid steam ferry connects it with 
Kansas City, which is a well known city, belonging 
almost as miicli to Clay County as to Jackson Coun- 
ty, in wliicli it is located. 

RAILROAD FACILITIE'^. 

Three railroads pass through tlie county lead- 
ing to Kansas City, viz.: the Hannibal & St. 
Josepli, the Wabash, St; Louis & Pacific and the 
Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs. The 
Cliicago, Rock Island & Pacific also run trains into 
Kansas City. Other surveys are now being made. 
One by the Cliicago, Burlington and Quincy, who 
claim that they mean to build. The county is well 
supplied with railroads. 

COUNTY FINANCES. 

The county has no floating debt. The bonded 
debt at eight per cent, interest is about $180,000 — a 
decrease of about $100,000 in the last fifteen years. 
Within the next ten years the whole debt will be 
paid off. The bonds command a premium of five 
per Oent. There is no taint of repudiation resting 
on Clay County and never will be. It is safe to say 
the county Avill never be in debt again after the 
present debt is paid. 

SCHOOL FACILITIES. 

Every school district in the county has a school 
house where public (free) schools are kept. These 
schools are of the highest character, taught by 
Avell paid teachers. Also Wm. Jewell College is 
located at Liberty, the county seat. This is in pro- 



cess of being fully endowed, and with its able 
corps of professors is one of the best institutions 
of learning in the State. Clay Seminary for young 
ladies, located jilso in Liberty, has an enviable 
reputation. 

RELIGIOUS. 

Every neigliborhood in the county has a church 
edifice, some of them two. The towns are well sup- 
l)Iied with churches. There is not a dramshoii in 
Claj' Count}', nor an habitual drunkard. This has 
been brought about — not bj' refusing license — but 
by a sense of right among her citizens, inculcated 
bj' her leaders of public thought and opinion. 

The ])eople are a sober, intelligent, moral and 
industrious people ; just such a people as one hunt- 
ing a good home would want to live among. 

THE SURFACE SOIL 

in the larger portion of the county is a rich alluvium 
from one to fifteen feet deep ; and will produce 
corn, hemp, wheat, and all the standard crops eqiial 
to the best lands in Kentucky and Illinois. 

Underlying the entire uplands of the county is the 
famous loess subsoil, running down to the bed- 
rock, or water level. This is so porous that, by 
capillary attraction, it will support vegetation in 
severe drouths, while it, at the same time, fur- 
nishes admirable drainage. 

The celebrated 

BLUE GRASS 

of Kentucky is indigenous here. Onlj' clear away 
the brush and undergrowth from land, and it will 
soon be covered with blue grass. This crop — with- 
out the touch of the plow or the hand of man — for 



118 



Hand-Rook of Missouri. 



pasturage alone is worth from two to five dollars 
per acre per annum. 

FRUITS, 
such as peaches, grapes, cherries, pears, quinces, 
etc., do' well here, and experience has demonstrated 
that this is the "home of the apple." There are 
many orchards of one thousand trees and over in 
the county. 



The assessed valuation is .f4,275,137, wliich is about 
one -half of the real value. 

The i)eople are anxious for immigration, and will 
give the immigrant a cordial welcome, and show 
him how to find a good home with rich soil among a 
hospitable, law-abiding people, where life and 
property are as secure to any person from any- 
where as in any other place in America. 



CLINTON COUNTY. 



Clinton County claims the distinction of being the 
sightliest and richest county in Northwest Missouri. 
It lies upon the headwaters of Smith's Fork of the 
Platte, Castle, Lost Creek, Shoal and Fishing Rivers, 
each running in different directions, thus leaving 
the main body of the county upon the high, broad 
ridges of these interlacing streams. It is in the 
center of that great bend of the Missouri, which 
commences at St'. Joseph and ends at Lexington, 
lying about the same distance from the river on the 
west as on the south, and being suiUciently far from 
it to exempt its citizens from an.y detriment to 
health from overflow or malai-ia, and sufficiently 
near to get the benefit of the rains and dews gener- 
ated by its flow. It embraces an area of twenty by 
twenty-one miles, its 420 square riiiles aggregating 
269,000 acres, 200,000 of which lie within the broad 
prairie ridges, leaving the balance covered by tim- 
ber. The prairie land is unexcelled in richness and 
depth of soil, producing in great profusion evei-y- 
thing natural to this latitude, while the timber 
lands, when cleared, rival the famous blue grass 
region of Kentucky in tlie growth of that remarka- 
ble gi-ass. 

CHARACTER OF POPULATION. 

Clinton County was originally largely settled fr«m 
Virginia and Kentucky, and many of the old set- 
tlers still survive, with their children settled around 
them on magnificent farms bought for them at an 
early day. However, the population of the county 
to-day represents all the leading WestQrn and Mid- 
dle States, as well as large settlements of Germans 
and Irish, and contains a i>cople sufficiently homo- 
genous in habits, thoughts and modes of life, to con- 
stitute them a body proud of their county — proud of 
its character and high standing in morality and vir- 
tue ; i)roud of themselves and their thrift, sagacity 
and financial integrity. 

MATERIAL IMPROVEMENTS. 

Clinton County has no outlying lands, excejjt in 
the timber. The prairie lands are all within field and 
pasture, with crops and herds, virtually in each, the 
very finest productions of the fairest portions of the 
sister States. The system of farming and grazing is 



being improved each year by an intelligent yeoman- 
ry. Its system of roads and bridges is receiving 
the most thorough attention. The lanes are gener- 
ally lined with trees, and in some portions of the 
county, under neighborhood systems, form a reg- 
ular alamanda — with beautiful farm houses and well 
kept grounds interspersed, which presents a pic- 
ture of comfort and happiness of home. 

RAILROAD FACILITIES. 

The one hundred and one miles of raUroad within 
the county, embrace the Hannibal & St. Joseph, 
running along the northern edge; the Kansas City 
Branch, running through the middle of the eastern 
half of the county ; the Chicago, Rock Island & Pa- 
cific, running from the northeast corner through the 
county seat to the southwest corner, and the Wa- 
bash, St. Louis & Pacific, running from the south- 
east, comes through the northwest portion to St. 
Joseph, which with the contemplated branch of the 
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, from the county seat 
to Kansas City, places the county in the very fore- 
most rank, and leaves every farmer in the county 
within six miles of a depot, from which he can reach 
any market, and through tlie competition of the va- 
rious roads gives him the Ijcnelit of the very lowest 
rates. The 

COUNTY INDEBTEDNESS 

originally consisted of $200,000 of six per cent. 
twenty-year bonds, issued ten years ago to foster 
the railroad system of the county. Since then the 
interest has been paid promptly, and nearly one- 
half of the debt has been paid off at par, leaving- 
but $110,000 yet due. A regular sinking fund is 
levied and collected annually which will wipe out 
the debt before maturity. In addition thereto a 
per cent, sufficient to meet the interest is levied 
and collected annually, which, however, decreases 
every year in amount. The interest this year 
amounts to $7,000, while the taxes due the county 
from the railroads amount to $8,16<S.33, leaving, a 
balance on interest and tax account in the county's 
favor this year of $666.3;>. Under the laws under 
which two of our roads were built, after the indebt- 
edness has been retired, the taxes. State and 
county, go to the school fund foi'ever. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



119 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 

embraces sixty-eight school districts and seventy 
school houses, with 5,392 children between school 
ages. The scho'ol fund of this year consists of: 

State fund ?3,955 89 

County fund 1,097 06 

Township fund 1,995 86 

School district taxes— estimated 'iS,000 (W 

Railroad taxes— estimated ;?,000 00 



.5;!S,(>t« 81 
Last year there was disbursed for school pur- 
poses $38,000.51. 
The tax levy for the year was : 

State tax 40 cents on the $100 

County expenditures... .30 " " 100 

Railroad interest 10 " " . 100 

Railroad sinking fund.. 10 " " 100 

Uoadtax .. 20 " " 100 



Total $1 10 

It will thus be seen that for the ordinary county 
affairs the taxes are very low. The other taxes 
being for railroads built and for the improvement of 
county roads and bridges. 

The assessed valuation of properly In the county 
this year is $5,a34,630. 

THE GRANGE OR(iANIZA.TlONS 

of the county are in a healthy and prosperous con- 
dition. Under the intelligent co-operation and 
direction of these bodies the prosperity of the 
county has greatly advanced, the system of farming 
greatly improved. The attention which they give 
to all measures looking in the direction of general 
prosperity and usefulness proves that they not only 
understand but intend to enforce those systems 
which they feel necessary to their continual welfare 
and happiness. A notable public feature, as an 



outgrowth of their work, is the semi-annual sale of 
short-horns at the county seat, embracing the fincat 
specimens of the breed of the most noted animals in 
the country. There are many fine herds of the purest 
bloods — owned by gentlemen of wealth and intelli- 
gence — which compare well with the herds from 
which they had their origin, and Clinton County to- 
day furnishes the country west of us with breeders, 
just as Kentucky and other States did years ago. 
The farmers generally throughout the county have 
their flue animals, and as a consequence the fat 
cattle driven to the St. Louis and Chicago markets 
are sought for and prized by butchers, and have and 
will continue to take premiums whenever brought 
into competition with those fi-om other sections. 
In the breeding of horses, mules, hogs and sheep, 
our farmers are abreast of those of the most fav- 
ored sections, the luxuriance and excellence of our 
grasses giving us great advantage in the full devel- 
opment of these animals. 

PRINCIPAL TOWNS. 

The principal towns of Clinton are Plattsbur?, 
Cameron and Lathrop. The first is the county scat 
— old and well improved — with a good court house — 
and its society and characteristics partake of llio 
older class of settlers. Cameron and Lathrop havo 
been built since the advent of the railroad, and in 
their appearance, thrift, enterprise and intelligeui-o 
give evidence of the character of the people wlii> 
have built them, and each are the center of a busi- 
ness which in its activity and extent is ample evi- 
dence of the rich country that surround them. 

LANI>. 

Laud in Clinton County can be bought from flitucii 
to forty doUars per acre. There are many larriLa 
that should be subdivided, and like all other coua- 
ties many farms for sale. 



OOLE COUNTY. 



Cole County, In position, Is the pivotal connty of 
the State. Geographically it is as near the center 
of the State as may be, and its capitol town, Jeffer- 
son City, is the capitol of the State, and its political 
center. 

Its area, in round numbers, is 240,000 acres. In 
geographical position, it is, with reference to its 
boundaries, almost an equilateral triangle, its apex 
being formed on the east by the junction of the Mis- 
souri and the Osage rivers, the former forming its 
northwestern boundary for a distance of thirty 
miles, and the latter its southeastern bonndai-y for 
nearly the same distance, thus enabling the county 
to enumerate among its commercial advantages, a 
navi.^'able i-iver line of about sixty miles. 

The greater portion of its surface is hilly, but it is 
traversed with numerous valleys of exhaustless 



fertility, througU which course streams of living 
water, so that every part of the county is well wa- 
tered, and no tract of farming-land Is without a 
cojjious supply of this all-important element of 
prosperity. 

Dividing the county into halves, on tlie north and 
south, is Ihc Moreau, a rivulet of moderate propor- 
tion, that traverses a wondei-fully chamiing and 
picturesque valley, that empties into the Missouri, 
four mUes above the moutli of the Osage. Tribu- 
tary to this stream are numerous other smaller 
streams, notably Honey Creek, into which stret<;U 
other i-emarkably beautiful valleys, all of great fer- 
tility and productiveness. Then there are count- 
less tributaries of the Missouri and the Osage, all 
Coursing through valleys of transcendent beau;y 
and adaptation to the wants of husbandry. 



120 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



TIMBER RESOURCES. 

Covering these hilly slopes and intervening val- 
leys is a dense grovrth of the timbers that enter 
largely into use for manufacturing piai-poses — oak, 
ash, elm, hickory, walnut, sycamore, and cotton- 
wood— though, strange as it may seem, the " tie 
trade " is the only industry to wliich the native tim- 
bers of the county are tributary. In railroad ties a 
large business is done. It is not an exaggeration to 
say that the yearly product of the timber lands of 
Cole County in ties that go to l)uild the great roads 
of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Colorado, is not less 
than $100,000 in value. That a great industry might 
be built up in tlie lumbering of timbers suitable for 
manufacturing purposes of every description, in 
whicli the county abounds, is capable of easy dem- 
onstration. There are not a half dozen saw mills 
iu operation in the county; but lumbering is, to 
some extent, au industry of the county. It is an 
industry, however, that might be greatly extended, 
and seems to be awaiting the hand of the indus- 
trious immigrant to give it a "boom." 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 

In the western portion of the county, where the 
broad prairies of Moniteau and the far west break 
up into the beautiful hills, huge pockets of bitumin- 
ous coal are found, and in all the southwestern part 
of the county rich deposits of lead are found. The 
mining population of tlie count)' at present directly 
depending upon the operation of the coal and lead 
mines of the county does not exceed 250. There is 
room for increase. 

MANUFACTURING RESOURCES. 

The manufacturing resources of the county are 
almost entirely undeveloped. Although sheep hus- 
bandry is already a great Industry and promises to 
be much greater, there is not a woolen mill, or even 
two carding machines in the county. Thei-e is a 
grand opening for a woolen mill at or near Jefferson 
City in this county. 

The flouring mills of the county have an enviable 
reputation throughout the East, and deservedly. 

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 

The area of the county is 240,000 acres, of which 
60,000 are in cultivation, leaving 180,000 acres not in 
cultivation. The average number of acres to the 
farm iu cultivation is sixty. 

The product of the 60,000 acres iu cultivation is 
about as follows • 

Of wheat, 30,000 acres, 45d,000 bushels, 

value $490,000 

Of oats, 12,000 acres, 3,50,000 bushels, 

value 106,000 

Of corn, 12,000 acres, 480,000 bushels, 

value 144,000 

Of meadow, 8,000 acres, 16,000 tons, 
value 160,000 

Total production in value $900,000 

Or an average production of fifteen dollars per 
acre cultivated. 



That the 180,000 acres of unimproved lands of Cole 
County, ranging in price from two to twelve dollars 
per acre, can be made into 2,000 additional farms of 
good tillal)lo land, furnished with prosperous homes, 
under the most beneficent sun, and in the most 
genial cUmate in all the wide earth, and capable of 
a productiveness equal to the foregoing, for 10,000 
additional inhabitants, is unquestioned. 

In the forgoing statement, no account is taken of 
the great productiveness of the fruit orchards of the 
county, of which there are many, of apples and 
peaches and pears ; nor is any account taken of the 
business of the farm in cattle, sheep, horses and 
mules, of all of which the animal product is large. 

That the county is well adapted to sheep hus- 
bandry, is beginning to attract the attention of 
fanners, especially among New Englanders and 
other Eastern farmers. 

DEBT AND TAXES. 

The debt of the county is $130,000 in six per cent, 
bonds. The treasury contains a surplus of several 
thousand dollars, and county warrants are at par. 
The taxable wealth of the county is $3,062,000, and the 
rate of taxation for all. State, county and school pur- 
poses for tlie current year, will not exceed one 
mill. 

SCHOOL FACILITIES. 

Every pai-t of the county is provided with public 
schools. The county and State funds arising from 
congressional endowments affording them a large 
percentage of their generous support, and relieving 
the citizens to a large extent from the payment of 
taxes for their support. 

PRINCIPAL TOWNS. 

The chief town of the county is .Jefferson City. 
Built on the rocky bluffs that overhang the Missouri 
River, its location is high and healthy, and with 
those great trans -continental highways of commerce 
at her feet, the Missouri Pacific Railroad, the Chi- 
cago & Alton Railroad, supplemented b}^ the Mis- 
souri River and the Osage River, no inland city im 
the West surpasses her in commercial advantages. 

With the Osage Valley and abounding hill ranges, 
and all their vast resources of wealth in forest, 
field and mine as tributary, there is no town 
iu tlie West that offers greater manufacturing 
facilities. 

Knowing the great value of manufacturing in pro- 
moting the prosperity of a city, the men of wealth 
and the city itself stand ready to offer liberal terms to 
secure them. There are numerous eligible sites for 
factories in the city, which can be had at terms of 
the most advantageous kind, and every encourage- 
ment is tendered those who will engage iu operating 
them. 

The population of the city is 6,000; its taxable 
wealth, $1,000,000. 

Cole County is studded over with thriving vUlages. 
Osage City, Toas, St. Thomas, Brazito, Hickory Hill, 
Decatur, RusselviUe, Elston's, Marion and Center- 
town, each having a prosperous local trade and all 
excellent points for manufacturing pursuits. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



121 



SOCIAL PKIVILEGKS. 

Schools of the first order of excellence, churches 
•of eveiy denomination, and societies foi- benevolent 
objects; good roads ; convenient markets ; railroad 
facilities provided and more projected; navigable 



waters, making of the county almost an island, are 
among the many provisions already made for social 
comfort, and it may be said that no part of the great 
West presents more substantial inducements to im- 
migration than Cole County. 



COOPER COUNTY. 



Cooper is one of the central counties of the Slate, 
situated on tlie south side i>f the Missouri Eivcr, 
whicli forms its northern boundary line. It is 
bounded on tlie west by Saline and Pettis Counties, 
on the south by Morgan and Moniteau, and on the 
east by Moniteau. 



SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS- 
TIMBER. 



-SOIL AND 



It has an area of 355,172 acres, whicli is about 
equally divided between prau-ie and timbered 
land, while these may be subdivided into bottom 
lands and xiplands. The southern and central 
portions of the county are composed cliiefly 
of prairie, and tlie eastern, western and northei-n of 
timber land. Comparatively a very small portion of 
the lands are uiisuittllile for agricultui-al purposes, 
and that is far more valuable on account of the 
rich deposits of minerals which underlie it. The 
cliaracter of tlie soil, of course, varies, according as 
it is timbered or prairie, lowland or upland, but it is 
all exceedingly fertile and productive, as is well 
attested by its natural timber productions, whicii in 
tiie upland are hackberry, elm, wild cherry, liouey 
locust, coffee tree, pignut, hickory, chestnut, burr 
oak, black and white walnut, mulberry, pa^vpaw, 
etc., and in the bottoms, elm, sugar maple, ash, 
cherry, locust, linden, sycamore, buckeye, buiT 
oak, shell-bark, blackberry, hickory, black walnut, 
plum, mulberry, etc. " This soil," says Professor 
Swallow, formerly State Geologist, "is very x>ro- 
ductive, and so deep and porous tliat tlie crops 
are liut little effected by dry and wet seasons." 
The richness and fertility of the prairie lands 
^s indicated by the luxuriant growth of grasses 
which originally covered them, and tlie magnificent 
crops of corn and wheat they now produce. The 
bottom lands bordei' the many streams which 
traverse the county and are very flat, while extend- 
ing back of these and in some places rising in abrupt 
bluffs are the uplands, which, as they recede, form 
higli rolling timbered lands and bro&d Tzad^'StlF^ 
prairies. 

PRICE OF LAND. 

The average price of the imiiroved and culti- 
vated lands is from ten to twenty dollars per 
acre, and of the uncultivated land from five to ten 
dollars per acre, while small farms in the best agri- 
cultural districts can be rented for from two to three 
dollars per acre, or one-third of the crop. 



STREAMS AND SPRINGS. 

The county has several splendid streams of water 
which, with their tributaries, traverse every neigh- 
borhood. The Lamine and Blackwater Rivers and 
their numerous tributaries water the western por- 
tion of the county. The Petit Saline and its tribu- 
taries the eastern and central, and the Moniteau 
and its branches the southern. Never failing 
springs of fresh water abound in every direction, 
and water can be found anywhere within a few feet 
of the surface. There are also salt springs in 
several localities, which in an early day supplied 
the surrounding country with all the salt it used, 
and also mineral springs wliicii are valuable on 
account of their medicinal properties, the most 
noted of which is the Chouteau Springs, in the 
western part of the county. 

MINERALS. 
Coal of a vei'y excellent quality and in great 
abundance is found in various parts of the countj-, 
and in the westei-n portion lead and iron exist in 
considerable quantities. Very superior building 
stone is abundant, and a marble whicli Professor 
Swallow says ^* exists in great quantities on Lamine 
Elver, in Cooper County, and is admirably adapted 
to many ornamental purposes;" also, hydraulic 
limestone, M'hich the same eminent authority says 
"resembles the hydraulic strata at Louisville." 
The very finest brick clay is plentiful, and immense 
deposits of excellent potter's clay are found in 
many localities. 

AGRICULTURAL. 

But notwithstanding the immense stores of wealth 
that lie beneath liir soil, the rich forests that cover 
her hills and v;!lleys, and the magnificent streams 
which extend in every direction, thus making her 
one of the most favored spots on the continent for 
the development of mining and manufacturing in- 
terests, Cooper County is one of the foremost 
^fjianltural counties tn tiie State, and her peo- 
ple look to the development of agricultural re- 
sources as their surest hope of future wealth 
and greatness. Professor Campbell, in an article 
upon " The Material Wealth of Missouri," published 
in Switzler's History of the State, says: "The 
County of Cooper alone produces yearly from its 
farms more than one-half the value of all the an- 
nual mineral products of the State." I^his seems 



122 



Hand-Book of MlSSOtTRI. 



almost fabulous, yet it does not give the least con- 
ception of the capabilities and possibilities of the 
county. Only when it is considered that there is 
not produced a one -hundredth part of what the 
soil is capable of, can its resources be fully appre- 
ciated and understood. But little more than one- 
half of the lands are now cultivated, and those that 
have never been made t<^ produce to their full 
capacity, because the farmers here, as in every new 
country where land is rich and plentiful, have 
hitherto relied more upon the fertility of the soil 
than upon labor and skill for the production of their 
crops. Owing to the climate and the variety of her 
soils, Cooper County produces nearly everything 
that grows on the continent. Wheat, corn, oats, 
barley, buckwheat, blue grass, timothy, rye, clover, 
millet, tobacco, broom corn, sorghum, castor beans, 
potatoes, turnips, and all kinds of garden vege-. 
tables, are the common products of the soil, while 
apples, peaches-, pears, plums, apricots, cherries, 
grapes, and other fraits, arc grown in the greatest 
abundance. The census of 1870 shows that only 
three counties in the State, of an equal or less area 
and population, suiimssed Cooper County in the 
annual result of their agricultural productions ; that 
only four of an equal or less area and population 
produced more corn, and only three, more wheat. 
The apple crop for one year has been estimated at 
30,000 barrels. Grape culture is another very im- 
portant branch of industry in Cooper County, it 
being one of the leading counties in the State in 
that particular. The climate and soil seem pecu- 
liarly adapted to the culture of several varieties of 
the grape, the most common of which are the Vir- 
ginia seedling. Concord aiid Catawba. Large quan- 
tities of wine of a very superior quality are annually 
made in the vicinity of Boonville, the county seat, 
whose surrounding hills covered with vineyards 
have given it the appellation of the "Vine Clad 
City of Missouri. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

Cooper County is splendidly provided with every 
facility for raising stock, and that busMiess is now 
very successfully and extensively engaged in, since 
it ranks the fifth in tie State according to its size 
and population. Besides the immense number of 
cattle, horses, mules, sheep and hogs annually 
raised for the ordinary markets, there are a number 
of persons engaged in breeding fine stock, some of 
whom have wide reputations. 

COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES. 

As to her commercial advantages, Cooper is not 
sui-passed by a county in the State. The Missouri 
Pacific Railway skirts her e.ntire southern border. 
The Osage Valley & Southern Kansas Railroad runs 
from Boonville, on the Missouri River, in a southerly 
direction through the center of the county, a dis - 
tance of twenty -four miles to the Missouri Pacific, 
and is now being rapidly extended towards the 
southern part of the State; and the Missouri, Kan - 
.sas & Texas Railway runs from Boonville in a 
southwesterly direction through the county a dis- 
tance of twenty miles, while the Missouri Rive,- 
washes her entire northern boundary, thus giving 
every neighborhood a convenient outlet and an 
easy market for its products. There are seventeen 



railroad stations within her borders or in close 
proximity thereto, besides numerous shii^ping 
points- on the Missouri River and the Lamine which 
traverses the western part of the county and is 
navigable for a number of miles from its mouth. 

RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL. 

People seeking new homes always wish to know 
sometliing of the religious and educational advan- 
tages of the county to which they are invited, and 
especially is this information desirable to those seek- 
ing homes in the West, where Missourians are sup- 
posed by Eastern friends to be a parcel of semi-civU- 
ized creatures, who neither regard man or fear God. 
No State in the Union surpasses Missouri in its 
public school system, and no county in the State is 
in advance of Cooper in adapting itself to that 
system. There are in the county one hundred and 
two public school buildings, all well constructed 
and comfortable, and some handsome and expen- 
sive, and they are so well distributed over 
the county that a school house is in a con- 
venient distance of almost everj- farm. In addition 
to the public schools there are a number of private 
schools and academies, some of which are quite 
noted. There are seventy church buildings in the 
county belonging to the Baptist, Methodist, Cum- 
berland Presbyterian, Christian, Episcopal, Catho- 
lic, Lutheran and other denominations. The people 
are enlightened, intelligent, peaceful and prosper- 
ous ; they fully realize that a greater population is 
needed to develop the country, and the hand of 
welcome will be extended to every good man, no 
matter what may be his race or nationality, his 
politics or religion, who will come and help to 
make the country what God intended it should b8 
— the greatest on earth. 

POPULATION, WEALTH, ETC. 

The population of the county is now estimated at 
•25,000 inhabitants, and is composed chiefly of people 
from the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, 
Indiana, Virginia, North and South Carolinas, Ten- 
nessee, and Kentucky, and also from Ireland and 
Germany. The German population especially is 
very large. The assessed valuation of the property 
of the county is now more than six millions of 
dollars. 

PRINCIPAL TOWNS. 

Boonville, the county seat, is situated on the south 
bank of the Missouri River. It is a beautiful town, 
containing about 5,000 inhabitants, and is noted for 
its wealth and culture, its intelligence and hospital- 
ity, its splendid schools and elegant churches. It 
has two railroads, one of which, the Missouri, Kansas 
& Texas, crosses the Missoui'i River here on a 
splendid iron bridge, 1,63" feet long, which cost one 
million dollars. No town in the State is more con- 
veniently situated or blessed with greater natural 
advantages. It is in the midst of one of the finest 
agricultural districts in the world; tlie country 
around it is beautiful and picturesque, the climate 
is pleasant and healthy, coal, wood and water are 
al)undant, and easily obtained, thus making it one 
of the most desirable localities for manufacturing- 
purposes that can be found anywhen . It has two 
lumber mills, one of which is very large and engaged. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



123 



exclusively in sawiug walnut lumber for Eastern 
markets; three large flouring mills, a woolen fac- 
tory, a foundry, four wagon and carriage manufac- 
tories, three potter ware and two barrel factories, 
one packing establisliment,.a large tobacco factory, 
and three extensive brick yards. It has two 
public schools, six flourishing private schools, 
and ten churches. The other principal towns 
of the county are Otterville, Bunceton, Pilot 
Grove,' Palestine, Pleasant Green, Prairie Home, 
and Overton. 



SUMMARY. 

From this brief and necessarily imperfect descrip- 
tion of a few of the leading characteristics of 
Cooper County, it will readily be seen that she pos- 
sesses rare advantages, and presents to the immi- 
grant—no matter what may be his occupation — 
unrivaled inducements. Her extensive forests, 
broad prairies, valuable mines, fertile soils, numer- 
ous streams, genial climate, and varied resources, 
offer comfort and plenty to the industrious and de- 
serving of evei-y clime and every pursuit. 



CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



Crawford is the second county southwest of St. 
liOuis, through which the St. Louis & San Francisco 
Railway passes. It is also intersected by the St. 
Louis, S;ilem & Little Rock Railroad, and contains 
two branch raih'oads leading to two of its iron 
mines.. 

AREA AND SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS. 

Its area is about 800 square miles, 'or 512,000 acres, 
of which about 50,000 are improved. 

The surface of the county is generally rolling and 
mostly timbered, with all the varieties of hard and 
soft wood that grow in this latitude. 

There are hills, ridges, valleys, bottoms, flat up- 
lands, and some prairie. 

The principal streams are the Meramec, which 
traverses the county fi-om southwes^to northeast, 
Courtois, Iliizza, Dry Creek, Crooked Creek, Benton 
Creek, Clear Creek, Brush Creek, Whittenburg and 
Yadkin. 

SOIL AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 

Good bottom land is found along these streams, 
and rich soil is also in the valleys. The uplands, 
though not so rich, are well adapted to the growing 
of wheat and other small grain. There is no swamp 
land of consequence in the county. 

Besides being well adapted for raising grain of all 
kinds, the county cannot be excelled in growing 
grass, potatoes, melons, and raising fruit and all 
kinds of stock. The unimproved land is a vast pas- 
ture, and the laws of the State do not require stock 
to be enclosed. 

Acorns, walnuts, hazel-nuts, hickory-nuts and 
hackberries often furnish suflicient feed to keep 
hogs nearly through the winter. 

Of the wild fruits there are crab-apples, cherries, 
plums, persimmons, pawpaws, gooseberries, black- 
berries, raspberries, whortleberries, strawberries, 
serviceberries, mulberries, hackbei'ries, black haw, 
red haw, sugar haw, and a great variety of grapes. 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 

Coal has been discovered in a few places. Iron 
and lead are the chief minerals and are found in 



great quantities. Several iron banks were discov- 
ered within the last year. 

There are two iron and oril lead furnaces in the 
county, and from ten to fifteen iron mines, employ- 
ing hundreds of men and teams. These make a 
home market for farm products at good prices. 

The machine shops of the St. Louis, Salem & 
Little Rock Railroad are located at Steeleville, the 
county seat, where there is also an academy that 
has been kept up for twenty-seven years, and has 
benefited society fifty miles around. 

TOWNS. 

The town of Cuba is located on the west side of 
Simpson's Prairie, ninety miles from St. Louis, on 
the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad. The junc- 
tion of the St. Louis, Salem & Little Rock is at this 
place. There is a steam grist, saw and planing mill 
in the town ; also, other manufactories, churches, 
schools, hotels and other business houses. 

Other live towns are Keysville, Cook's Station, 
Iron Ridge, Leasburg, Bourbon, Scotia and Mid- 
land. 

EDUCATIONAL AND SANITARY. 

There are seventy- three public schools in the 
county. 

The county being in South Missouri, and about 
six hundred feet above the level of the Mississippi 
River at St. Louis, is healthy, and possessed of a 
climate otherwise desirable. 

THE CHANCE FOR A FARM. 

As there are more than 400,000 acres of unimproved 
land in the county, of which 12,000 aeros belong to 
the United States, and is subject to entry, this is 
destined to be one of the leading mineral counties 
of the State, thereby causing every foot of agricul- 
tural land to be taken up and cultivated to profit. 

Improved farms now sell at from five to fifteen 
dollars per acre, and unimproved lands at from fifty 
cents to five dollars per acre. 

FINANCIAL. 

The county has but little debt, and the taxes are 
light, and the present county court promises to issue 
no more dramshop licenses. 



124 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



DADE COUNTY. 



Dade County lies in the third tier of counties 
north from the Arkansas line, and in the second 
east from the Kansas line ; occupying the central 
portion of that fertile and beautiful portion of the 
State known as Southwest Missouri, and situate on 
the western slope of the Ozark Plateau, at an eleva- 
tion of 1,300 feet above the level of the sea. It contains 
320,000 acres of land about equally divided between 
timber and prairie. Several bold, swift streams 
flow through the county from south to north, fur- 
nishing unlimited water-power; the number of 
miles of streams which can be and are utilized for 
that purpose, amounting to fifty- seven. The face of 
the country along these streams is rolling upland, 
covered with a dense gi-owth of oak, hickory, black 
walnut, ash, and other hard wood, while the bot- 
toms are exceedingly rich, and are covered, where 
not cultivated, with a luxuriant growth of soft 
maple, sycamore, el^ and black walnut. Several 
small but fertile prairies are found between these 
streams on the uplands, well settled and under a 
high state of cultivation. West of these streams, 
and composing the entire western half of the 
county, the broad and fertile prairies stretch away 
to the great plains. The streams which water this 
gi-and region flow but a few feet below the general 
level of the pi-airie, and are bordered with narrow 
strips of timber. 

SOIL. 

The uplands in the eastern part of the county 
consist of a red clay subsoil, covered with what is 
termed a " mulatto " soil, which, for wheat and 
tobacco, is unsurpassed. The valleys along the 
streams consist of alluvial deposits of rich black 
loam overlaying sub-deposits of clay and gravel, 
and yields corn averaging from eighty to one hun- 
dred bushels per acre, according to thorouglmess of 
cultivation. The prairie is similar to that of Illinois 
and Iowa, and grows all kinds of cereals in extra 
abundance. Water is found in abundance at a 
depth of from twelve to twenty-flve feet, of the best 
quality and entirely free from alkali or other dele- 
terious ingredients. 

LAND AND CULTIVATION. 

About one-fourth of the land in Dade County is 
under cultivation. There are about three thousand 
acres of Government land in the county sixbject to 
pre-emption and homestead. The unimproved 
lands are pretty evenly distributed throughout the 
county, and consist of both timber and prairie. 
Improved farms can be purchased at from eight to 
twanty-five dollars per acre; unimproved land at 
from two to eight dollars, according to quality and 
location. There are thousands of acres of this 
cheap prairie land only awaiting purchasers, which 
will pay for itself the first crop. Fencing material 
consists of stone, rails, wire, plank or Osage Orange, 
the latter of which is indigenous to the soil, and is 
n.'cd almost exclusively in the prairie portion of the 
county. 



THE CLIMATE AND HEALTH. 

Situated in tlie latitude of Richmond, Virginia, 
the winters are mild and short, while the elevation, 
combined with pure breezes from the West during 
the summer, tempers the heat, which is felt in other 
regions in tne same latitude. With two or three 
exceptions the mercury has not fallen below zero in 
ten years, while in summer it seldom rises above 
ninety degrees in the shade. Very little snow falls, 
and stock requires little feed during the so-called 
winter months. The prevailing diseases are pneu- 
monia in a mild tj^ie during the winter months, and 
ague to the same extent, and in isolated cases, and 
owing to causes incident to opening up and turning 
the virgin soil in all new countries. Lung and bron- 
chial diseases are comparatively unknown. The 
water is pure and healthful, and springs of hard and 
soft water flow from every hillside in never-failing 
streams. 

AGRICULTURE AND PRODUCTION. 

Everything can be raised here whicli grows in 
this latitude. There is no region in the AVest bet- 
ter adapted to the production of grain, fruit and 
vegetables. The finest quality of wheat is raised, 
with mills at our doors to convert it into flour. 
Winter wheat is grown exclusively, yielding frooL 
fifteen to thirty bushels per acre. Corn is perhaps 
the leading crop. Most of the crop is fed in the 
country, and large herds of cattle and hogs are 
annually driven into the county from other sections 
for this purp(^e. Other productions of the soil are 
castor beans, oats, barley, millet, flax, broom corn, 
sorghum, buckwheat and rye, Irish and sweet 
potatoes, turnips, carrots, tobacco and cotton. Of 
the grasses, timothy, red top, blue grass and clover 
do well. 

What Dade County's agricultural resources are,, 
the following statistics prepared by the County 
Assessor, for the year 1879, will show: 

Ko. of acres in wheat 22,000 

No. of bushels 308,000 

No. of acres in corn 55,000 

No. of bushels 1 ,025,000 

No. of acres in oats 4,000 

No. of bushels 80,000 

No. of acres in timothy 7,000 

No. of tons 7,000 

No. of acres in flax 900 

No. of bushels 4,9.50 

A moderate estimate of the value of the cereals 
above mentioned would give results as follows ; 

Wheat f246,400 

Corn 481,250 

Oats '. 20,000 

Timothy 42,000 

Flax 6,1S7 

Total ?795,83T 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



125 



STOCK-RAISING. 

Stock-raising is one of the leading industries. 
The meadows and wild grasses furnish a never-fail- 
ing supply of grazing, and hay, while the immense 
crops of corn and oats raised In the<county enables 
one to engage in the business with a certain pros- 
pect of i-emunerative profits. 

The following is the number and value of live 
stock owned in the county in 1879; 

No. Value. 

Cattle 20,522 $359,000 

Horses 5,578 260,000 

Mules 1,600 95,650 

Asses and Jennets 53 3,500 

Hogs 29,783 75,000 

Sheep 13,096 22,000 

Total value $815,150 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 

Coal, lead, iron, zinc and fire clay are all found in 
Dade County in immense deposits. 

The coal deposits of the Osage Basin extend into 
the northwestern portion of Dade County, covering 
about fifty square miles of her territory, and con- 
sist of three stratas, the upper, or one now worked, 
being three feet in thickness, and is of a superior 
quality, and makes excellent coke. Coal sells at the 
banks at about two dollars per ton. 

Large deposits of iron ore exist in the northern 
portion of the county, but are not worked on account 
of lack of means of transportation to market. Be- 
fore the war, several small furnaces and foundries 
supplied this section with iron, but these were de- 
stroyed, and have not since been rebuilt. 

Fire clay of a superior quality exists in large 
deposits in the southeastern portion of Dade County. 
It is used extensively by the Corry and Ash Grove 
Lead Furnaces. 

Zinc was discovered, in 1874, at various places in 
the eastern part of the county. These deposits are 
practicably inexhaustible, and consist of carbonate, 
silicate and blende. 

Amount of zinc mined and shipped from Dade 
County since the discoveiy of mineral in 1874 is as 
follows : 

Carbonate and blende 18,000 tons. 

Silicate 19,000 " 

Total 37,000 tons. 

Lead was discovered, in the spring of 1875, in 
the northeastern portion of the county. The first 
boulder struck was a solid mass of 50,000 pounds of 
almost pure lead. Since then a town (Corry) has 
been built, threft smelting furnaces and one slag 
furnace erected, and lead mining is one of the lead- 
ing industries of the county. The mines are owned 
and worked by the Dade County Mining & Smelting 
Company, composed of citizens of the county. The 
mineral is found in pockets or deposits at from a few 
inches to a hundred feet, the greatest' depth yet 
reached, and covers an area of about two square 
miles, but there is no doubt as to the existence of 
other equally rich deposits in the vicinity. From 
the secretary of the mining company it is learned 
that the above company have mined -and smelted at 
their furnaces at Corry, since the first day of June, 



1875, 2,066,000 pounds of pig lead. The quality of the 
lead and zinc ores mined in the county are said to 
be the best in tlie State. There are good openings 
in Dade County for capitalists, and for active, in- 
dustrious miners. Her mineral wealth has only 
been touched, and not developed. 

MANUFACTURES. 

Dade County contains all the elements which go 
to make 'up manufacturing communities — lead, coal, 
iron, zinc, fire clay, excellent building stone, timber 
of good quality and unlimited water-power, witli an 
agricultural region in the midst capable of feeding 
thousands of operatives. The county contains sev- 
en excellent flouring mills driven by water; two 
first-class flouring mills driven by steam — nine in 
all ; one cotton gin, driven by water ; one wool card- 
ing mill, four saw mills, driven by water, and about 
a dozen driven by steam ; four lead furnaces ; one 
distillery ; two or three small wagon factories ; and 
an excellent pottery. 

MERCANTILE MATTERS. 

The capital invested in the mercantile business in 
Dade County is large, but to ascertain the exact 
amount would be difficult. By inquiry, the annual 
sales of goods, wares and merchandise in Dade 
County, for the year 1879, as near as can be ascer- 
tained were as follows : 

Greenfield $175,000 

Dade ville 75,000 

Rock Prairie 50,000 

Areola 30,000 

Cedarville 45,000 

Corry 20,000 

King's Point 15,000 

Turnback 15,000 

Chambersville 12,000 

Total $437,000 

RAILROAD FACILITIES. 

The Springfield & Western Missouri Railroad, now 
being completed, runs through the county from 
east to west; the number of miles in the county 
being about thirty-two. This road connects with 
the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad at Spring- 
field, and with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas. Rail- 
way, ajid Missoui-i River, Fort Scott, & Galveston 
Railroad, at Fort Scott, Kansas, giving us connec- 
tion both with Kansas City and St. Louis. The Se- 
dalia, Warsaw & Southern Railroad, a narrow- 
gauge, is building from Sedalia south to some point 
on the St. Louis & San Francisco road, and the main 
line, or a branch thereof, will run tln-ough Dade 
County from north to south. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

Dade County shows a commendable zeal in her 
educational interests. The following statistics re- 
specting the public schools of the county are culled 
from the School Commissioner's report for 1879: 
No. of persons in the county between 

the ages of 6 and 20 4,379 

No. of children attending school 3,874 

No. of teachers employed 91 

No. of school houses and school dis- 
tricts 74 



126 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



Amount of money received from pub- 
lic funds .' ?5,760 76 

Amount realized from taxation 7,048 02 

Amount paid as teacher's wages.... 10,768 00 
Amount paid for erection of houses 

and for sites 1,454 17 

Total valuation of school property. . 29,726 90 
Besides there are sevei-al select and private insti- 
tutions. Ozark Seminary, an institution of twelve 
years' standing, situated in Greenfield, is in a flour- 
ishing condition, with an able corps of instructors, 
and a matriculation of eighty-seven students the 
present term. The buildings are valued at over 
$4,000. 

The county lias a live teachers' institute; also, a 
thoroughly organized Sunday school convention. 

KELIGIOUS INTERESTS. 

Our citizens generally manifest a devotion to their 
religious interests, insuring throughout the county 
the prevalence of order, industry and sobriety. The 
Baptist, Cumberland Presbyterian, Methodist Epis- 
copal, Methodist Episcopal (South), Presbyterian, 
Covenanter and Christian denominations have 
organizations in the county, numbering about fifty, 
witli twenty-flve resident ministers, and a member- 
ship of about 3,020. The property of the denomina- 
tions, consisting of thirty church buildings and 
three parsonages, aggregating in valuation about 
$38,250.- 

TAXES AND COUNTY FINANCES. 
Tlie taxable wealth of Dade County, both real and 
personal, for the year 1879, as returned by the As- 
.sessor, was a little over .? 1,600,000. The rate of taxa- 
tion was $1.42 per $100. Taxes are paid promptly in 
Dade County. Her warrants are at par, and there 
is usually a surplus of money in the treasury. 

SOCIETY. 

For morality and intelligence Dade County already 
possesses an enviable reputation. Every neighbor- 
hood has its cluirch and school house, and society is 
as refined and elevated as it is in the older States. 
There is not a single saloon in Dade County, and the 
sentiment of tlie citizens, as a class, is so strongly 
opposed to such, tliat it is impossible to obtain a 
saloon license in the county, under tlie present local 
option law. The result is that flagrant crimes are 
comparatively unknown, and tlie county jail rarely 

has an inmate. 

POPULATION. 

The first census, in 1850, showed a population of 
4,246. Population in 1870, 8,683; population, accord- 
ing to State census returns in 1876, 11,116 ; disclosing 
an increase in six years of twenty-eight per cent. 
The census of the present year will give a popu- 
lation of not less than 15,000 souls. A large propor- 
tion of the citizens are from Northern and Eastern 
States, who have removed to Missouri since the war, 
and found homes to their liking. All such arc wel- 
come, and thousands more. 

TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

(ircenfleld, the county seat of Dade County, is an 
incorporated city of the fourth class, situate near 



the center of the county, on the line of the Spring- 
field & Western Missouri Eailroad, and contains a 
population of over 1,000. The business of the place 
is represented iDy two hotels, seven dry goods stores, 
five drug stores, three hardware stores, three har- 
ness and saddlery houses, two millinery stores, 
three furniture stores, one bank, two grocery stores, 
one notion store, one boot and shoe manufactory, 
one jeweler, one barber shop, one billiard hall, one 
restaurant, one livery stable, two picture galleries, 
one lumber yard, one flouring mill, two printing 
ofiices, four blacksmith shops, two wagon shops, 
seven lawyers, six doctors, two dentists, one 
meat market, three real estate agencies. Re- 
ligious organizations, six — Presbyterian, Cum- 
berland Presbyterian, Methodist, African-Metho- 
dist, Baptist, and Christian. There are two Ma- 
sonic Lodges, one Chapter and one Commandery of 
Knights Templar; a Lodge of Ancient Order of 
United Workmen, one of Sons of Temperance, and 
a Refuge of the Order of the Sacred Brotherhood. 
The city boasts a large and elegant public school 
building, besides Ozark Seminary, a fine institution 
of learning located at this place. No more beauti- 
ful town of its kind is found iu Missouri. 

Corry, a mining town of 300 inhabitants, situated 
ten miles nortlieast from Greenfield, owes its origin 
to the discovery of lead. Here are located the 
offices, furnaces, pumps and other mining appliance 
of the Dade County Mining & Smelting Company. 
Zinc is also mined here in large quantities. 

Dadeville is a lively village of 400 inhabitants, 
situated twelve miles northeast of Greenfield in the 
midst of a fine agricultural section. Three dry 
goods stores, two drug stores, one livery and feed 
stable, two liotels, one harness shop, one wagon 
shop, two blacksmith shops, one steam flouring mill, 
two doctors, one attorney, three church organiza- 
tions, one Masonic, and one Odd Fellows society. 

Areola, a flourishing village, twelve miles north of 
Greenfield, surrounded by a fine farming country; 
jiopulation 100. Three general stores, one drug 
store, one millinery sliop, one blacksmith shop, one 
cliurch (Methodist), and two doctore. 

Cedarville, fifteen miles northwest of tlic county 
seat; population about 100. Two general stores, 
one drug store, one cliurch, blacksmith shop and 
one pliysician. In the vicinity of the coal fields. 

Rock Prairie, ten miles southeast of Greenfield on 
the Springfield & Western Missouri Railroad, is a 
lively trading point. Population, 75. Two general 
stores, one drug store, one furniture store, one hotel,' 
one pottery, one blacksmith sliop, two pliysicians. 
Large deposits of excellent fire claj' exist in the 
vicinity. ^ 

King's Point, leii miles southwest of the county 
seat, is Ijeautifully situated, and is destined to be- 
come a considerable village. Population, 100. Two 
diy goods stores, one drug store, blacksmith shop, 
school house and church. 

Otlier villages and post-oflices in tlie county are, 
Chambersvillc,in tlie southwest corner of the coun- 
ty ; Pcmberton, seven miles east of Greenfield ; Turn- 
back, eight miles southeast; Newkirk, seven miles 
south ; Sylvania, ten miles northwest ; lilldridge, sev- 
en miles west ; Davenport, nine miles northwest. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



127 



DALLAS COUNTY. 



Dallas County is located in the southwest central 
part of the State, about one hundred miles from the 
southern and the same distance from the western 
boundary of the State, is bounded north by HickoiT' 
and Camden Counties ; east by Laclede ; south by 
Webster and Greene ; and west by Polk and Hick- 
ory Counties, and contains 344,931 acres of land. 
There are entered and assessed 220,000 acres, 
leaving 124,931 stiU vacant, nearly all of which is 
subject to homestead entry. 

THE PHYSICAL FEATURES 

present a varied surface, from the level to the gently 
undulating and rolling land, whilst in the vicinity of 
the larger streams it is broken and hiUy. From one- 
fourth to one-third of the county is prairie; the re- 
mainder is well timbered — the uplands with post, 
black, white, red and black-jack oak; the bottoms 
with burr, Spanish and chinquapin oak, black and 
white walnut, hickory, ash, elm, cherry, maple, syca- 
more, etc. 

RIVERS, WATER-POWER, ETC. 

The Niangua (pronounced Neongo) rises in Web- 
ster, and enters this county in the central southern 
part of the county, having in this section three 
important tributaries, Jones, Deusenberry and 
Greasy Creeks, and flows northwardly to near the 
center, thence east or northeasterly to near the 
county line, where it receives the cool and limpid 
waters of one of the most remarkable springs in th« 
world. Little Niangua rises near the center of th» 
county and flows in a northwardly. direction, and 
unites with the former in Camden County. 

These streams, with their numerous tributaries, 
fed by living springs all over the county, afford the 
b6st and purest of water for all purposes; and in 
this respect, as well as for the purposes of water- 
power for the driving of machinery, Dallas is not 
excelled by any other county in the State. 

These streams likewise aboimd in excellent fish, 
such as the black and white perch, cat, drum, buf- 
falo, redfin, and white suckers. 

THE SOIL 

is fertile, and adapted to a wide range of products. 
The black loam, the brown, tlie red, the rich alluvial, 
with cla}' subsoils, may be enumerated as the lead- 
ing varieties. 

THE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS 

are Avheat, corn, rye, buckwheat, barley, oats, 
sorghum, tobacco, castor beans, flax, cotton, pota- 
toes and all kinds of vegetables usually produced in 
this climate. Apples, pears, peaches, plums, cher- 
ries, apricots, nectarines, grapes and all the small 
fruits are grown in great abundance. 

Timothy, red-top, clover, Hungarian, millet, bhie 
and all the grasses grown in the State, are probably 
not surjjassed in quality and quantity of yield per 



acre in any county in the Southwest. The same 
remark may be made of aU, or nearly all, the other 
agi-icultural productions of the county, and the 
average yield, with proper tillage, will compare 
favorably with the best sections of the State. 



STOCK-RAISING. 

Owing to the richness of the wild grasses and the 
abundant yield of nuts and acorns, Dallas County 
is especially adapted to stock-raising, and that it is 
a profitable industry is attested by the large number 
of mules, cattle, horses, sheep and hogs that are 
annually sent off to market. 



GRAPE CULTURE. 

is beginning to attract some attention, and it is 
known to be a profitable industry. According to 
Professor Swallow's report in his geological survey 
of this part of the State, the poorest lands found in 
the county, to-wit: those bordering on the large 
streams, are well adapted to the culture of the grape. 
These lands are among those enumerated as vacant, 
and subject to homestead entry. 

PRICE OF LANDS. 

The entire cost of homesteadlng a 

40 acre tract is $G4-$1.50-f $1.00=58.50 

80 " " " 7+ 1.50-1- 1.00=: 9.50 

120 " " " 13+ 1.50-f 1.00=15.50 

160 " " " 14+1.50+1.00=16.50 

There are some 1,200 acres of agricultural college 
lands, and a few hundred acres remaining that were 
selected under the Swamp Land Act. The latter is 
for sale at one dollar and twenty- live cents per 
acre, and belongs to the county for school purjioses. 
RaUroad lands and entered unimproved lands can 
be bought for one dollar and twenty-five to five 
dollars per acre, whilst improved lands are selling 
fl-om five to fifteen dollars per acre. Any Govern- 
ment land is like^Aise for sale at one dollar and 
twenty-five cents per acre, or subject to homestead, 
as before stated. 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 

Lead is found in many places in the county, and 
is known to exist in paying quantities. The Rambo 
Mines, fourteen miles northwest of Buffalo, discov- 
ered in 1868, have attracted most attention, having 
for a number of years been successfully worked ; 
but the want of convenient transportation has re- 
tarded the development of this mineral to any great 
extent. Iron is found in many localities, and its 
development in large quantities only awaits the 
stimulus of railroad transportation. Indications of 
stone coal are found in various localities, .and the 
best of building stone is found in nearly all parts of 
the count}'. 



128 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



THE MANUFACTUKING INTERESTS 

consist of the usual complement of blacksmith 
wagon, furniture, tin, saddle, harness, and shoe 
shops, with three carding mills, four steam and 
nine water mills. 

RATE OF TAXATIO^ 

For State purposes, forty cents on one hundred 
dollars. valuation; for county purposes, fifty cents; 
and for school and school Iiouse purposes, an 
average of thirty-five cents ; amounting for all pur- 
poses to f 1.25 on the $100 valuation. 

RAILROAD FACILITIES. 

The Laclede & Fort Scott Railroad, which, wlien 
completed will become a branch of the St. Louis & 
San Francisco road (the first fifty miles of which, 
from Lebanon, in Laclede, to Bolivar, in Polk Coun- 
ty, is nearly all graded), will run through the center 
of the county from east to west. 

The Sedalia, Warsaw & Southern Narrow Gauge 
road in seeking a terminus on the Mississippi River 
below the freezing point, will find the route from 
Warsa^v to Blackoak Point, Urbana, Buffalo and 
Marshfield to Memphis, a raucli better and shorter 
route than any other proposed. The money is now 
being raised to procure a preliminary survey, and 
Dallas is indulging the hope tliat at no distant day 
this road will traverse the central portion of the 
county from north to south, affording tlie only stim- 
ulus needed for the full development of all the in- 
• dustrial interests of the county. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

The whole number of white children in the county 
of school age (between six and twenty years,) is 
3,347, and the number of colored children, twenty- 
five. Schools are being organized all over the county 
in sub-districts, and sessions are held in each from 
tour to twelve months per year. 

The county has a permanent scliool fund of some 
$15,000, whicli is being constantly augmented by the 
sale of tlie sixteentli sections, which are all reserved 
for school purposes; the sale of so-called swamp 
lands, the proceeds of fines and estrays not re- 
claimed. This fund is loaned out to individuals, on 
the best security, at ten per cent, per annum, and tlie 
proceeds, together with twenty-five per cent, of the 
State revenue raised in the county, are divided 
pro rata amongst the sub-districts of the county. 

In addition to these public free schools, there are 
a number of private schools taught in various parts 
of the county— and notably at Buffalo, Urbana and 
Louisburg. At tlie latter place the citizens have 
erected a liandsonic building and established a 
school called "The Louisburg Academy." 

RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL. 

The principal religious denominations are the 
Methodists, Baptist, Christian and Presbyterian. 
Some church organization may be found in almost 
every neighborhood. 

There are two lodges of Masons and three of (iood 
Templars in the county. 



Several Granges are in active operation, and their 
organization has been socially and otherwise ad- 
vantageous to the f.arming community. 

POPULATION. 

The population of the county is estimated at 
10,500, and is made up from nearly every nationality, 
and being thus cosmopolitan, is not subject to the 
clanishness found in less favored localities. 

It is the boast of the better class of citizens that 
the meagre dockets of their court records show 
them to be a peaceable, quiet and law-abiding 
people. 

TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

Buffalo, the county seat, at the crossing of the 
proposed railroads, some thirty miles west of Leba- 
non, is beautifully situated on an eminence at the 
eastern edge of the prairie, and from a western ap- 
proach presents a rare and picturesque appearance. 
Its buUdings are well and tastefully constructed and 
nestle around and near the public square in which 
stands an elegant and substantial brick court house, 
costing some $16,000 or $18,000, and said to be the 
prettiest in Southwest Missouri. 

Tliere are seven stores (general merchandise), 
two drug stores, one saddle and harness shop, one 
millinery store, one furniture store, two boot and 
shoe stores, one tin store, five blacksmith and two 
wagon shops, two newspapers, two hotels, one 
graded, one private and one colored school and one 
saloon. 

The newspapers mentioned arc the Buffalo 
"Ucflex," a (ireenback paper, and the Buffalo 
"Register," a Republican paper. 

There are other flourishing little towns in the 
county, and among them may be mentioned Louis- 
burg, nine miles northwest of Buffalo, and Urbana, 
fifteen miles in nearly the same direction. Both 
have the usual complement of business houses, 
shops and a post-office, and are located in beauti- 
ful little prairies, surrounded by excellent farms 
and farming lands, and an industrious class of 
people. 

Boyd is a post-oftice twelve miles south of Buffalo. 

Cross Plains. (See AVood Hill.) 

Forkner's Hill, a post-office sixteen miles .south- 
east of Buffalo. 

Long Lane, a post-office twelve miles east of 
Buffalo. 

Lead Mine, a iK)st-office fourteen miles northeast 
of Buffalo. 

Spring Grove, a post-office nine miles southeast of 
Buffalo. 

Thorp, a post-office southeast of Buffalo. 

Wood Hill (formerly Cross Plains), a post-office 
eight miles north of Buffalo. 

Dick's Creek, a post-office nineteen miles north- 
east of Buffalo. 

GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS MATTER. 

The water-power afforded by the springs and 
living streams of water indicates the manufacturing 
capabilities of the county in a very marked degree. 

The rolling surface and excellent range for stock 
are strongly suggestive of sheep and wool-growing, 
to which the county is notably adapted as M'ell as to 
stock-raising generally. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



129 



DAVIESS COUNTY. 



Daviess County is situated iu Nortliwest Missouri, 
in the second tier of counties from the north line of 
the State. It is twentj^-four miles square, and con- 
tains an area of 359,633 acres of land. The assessed 
value of real estate, made in the year 1879, was 
$2,455,131, and that of personal property $1,361,181, 
making the total value of real and personal property 
iH this county, in 1879, $3,817,312. This does not in- 
clude the value of railroad or telegraph property in 
this county, which amounts to $2.56,272, making the 
taxable wealth of Daviess County at last assessment 
$4,072,584. The last assesssment, which was in 
August, 1879, shows the live stock in the county as 
ioUowB : 

No. Value. 

Horses ...10,101 $287,947 

Mules ahd asses 1,505 49,923 

Neat cattle 27,138 327,728 

Sheep 23,216 23,723 

Hogs 51,194 72,678 

Other property, not Including railroad, was listed 
to the value of $729,232. 

The population of Daviess County, according to 
the census of 1870, was 14,410, but noM* reaches over 
19,000, and is on the steady and rapid increase. 

COUNTY INDEBTEDNESS AND TAXATION. 

In 1875, Daviess County was indebted, an out- 
standing interest bearing bonds issued for railroad 
punsoses, in the sum of $320,000. The amount out- 
standing on April 1, 1880, was $107,000, showing a net 
reduction in live years of $213,000, principal with in- 
terest. In addition to the payment of tliese bonds 
the county has built four magnificent iron bridges, 
with iron abutments, costing in the aggregate 
$21,000. About $1,000 lias annually been expended 
in tlie erection of small bridges aci'oss the luanj- 
streanis flowing through the county. 

The levy of taxes for county purposes for the year 
1878 and also 1879 was ninety cents on the hundred 
dollars for all purposes. 

The same levy for a few years will pay all the 
bonds outstanding. 

Ttie lery of 1875, for poor farm purposes, was in- 
vested in a poor farm, which is now well stocked. 

AGRICULTUKE AND GRAZING. 

There is no county in this State that will rank in 
advance of Daviess for agricultural advantages and 
grazing. The soil is from one to six feet deep, very 
rich and productive — a soil tliat will not wear out. 
The formation of tlie surface of this county displays 
a natural drainage in its highest perfection. The 
beds of the streams are below the general level of 
country, and sloughs of standing water are rarely 
«een. The ascents and descents of the country are 
not so abrupt as to prevent the tillage of tlie entire 
surface of tlie land. The soil of tlie Grand Hivcr 
Valley, which runs diivgonally through the county 



from northwest to southeast, is not surpassed by 
that of any other country in the Union. This county 
contains about two-thirds prairie and one-third tim- 
ber lands ; the timber being situate advantageous to 
the prairie, as if placed by human hands for the con- 
venience of man. 

Indian corn, wheat, oats, rye, barley, and other 
small grains, are peculiarly adapted to tlie soU of 
this county. It will yield from forty to one hundred 
bushels of corn per acre ; winter and spring wheat,, 
from fifteen to thirty-five bushels; rye, twenty to 
forty bushels, and a crop that never fails ; oats, from 
thirty to sixty bushels ; flax, ten to fifteen bushels 
per acre, and all other small grains in proportion. 
The timber lands produce good tobacco and a profit- 
able yield. Irish and sweet potatoes of the finest 
quality are grown, and are particularly adapted to 
this soil, and will yield from three hundred to four 
hundred busliels per acre. The grasses consist of 
timothy, clover and blue gi-ass, all o'f which grow in 
abundance. The blue grass pastures are not sur- 
passed by the blue grass regions of Kentucky. There 
is yet a very good range of wild grass, but it is being 
crowded out by the blue grass, which is superior. 

Daviess County has been blessed by the munifi- 
cence of nature with native fruits in great abund- 
ance. The strawbeiTy, pluin, raspberry, gooseberry, 
blackberry, and the wild grape, are native growths 
in this county. These are also successfully culti- 
vated to a great extent, and v.'ith a large profit. A 
great quantity of wine is made from the tame grape. 

Apples, peaches, pears, plums, cherries and all 
other fruits of this climate, are extensively raised. 
Tlie fruit-bearing trees in this county are numbered 
by the thousands. There is not probably a farm in 
tiie county that does not have more or less fruit 
trees, mostly bearing. Daviess County is situated 
iu the great fruit belt, extending from the Ohio 
Elver on tlie east to the Jlissouri Kiver on the west. 

TIMBER. 

Kuougli timber is found in this county to supply 
half a dozen generations yet to come. The buir 
oak, white oak, hickory, black walnut, maple, elm, 
Cottonwood, linn, white and blue ash, hackberry 
and mulberry grow spontaneously and to a great 
size. 

STREAMS. 

Grand Kiver, already mentioned, enters Daviess 
at tlie northwest corner, and runs diagonally through 
the county, passing out at the southeast corner. 
It is spanned by. two magnificent bridges, one at 
Gallatin, tlie county «eat, and one sixteen miles 
above, at what is known as the " Grooiner Mills." 
Grand River is a rapid stream, and affords excellent 
water-power for milling, factories, etc. There are 
several mills now iu operation upon tliis stream. 
Tliere are also several small streams flowing into 
Grand River in different parts of the county. Da- 



130 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



Tifiss County is well supplied with water, tlie streams 
beiug cquallj^ distributed throughout tlie couuty, 
besides a large number of never failing 8])rings, and 
scarcely a farm house in the county that does not 
have a well of living water, and, where it is neces- 
sary to dig wells, water is obtained at no great 
depth below the surface. 

STONE. 

There is an abundance of stone for building pur- 
poses in the different parts of the county. Several 
quarries are open, and are supplying stone to parties 
in other parts of the State that are less fortunate in 
their location than the people of Davie-^s County 
are. limestone and sandstone are found here in 
inexhaustible quantities. Xo coal stone is found 
near the surface in this county, but it is believed 
that it can be obtained at a depth below the surface 
In paying quantities, the test not as yet having been 
made. 

RAILROADS. 

The Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway enters 
the county near the southeast corner, and passes 
diagonally through it and out near the northwest 
corner, running along the Grand River Valley, mak- 
ing a continuous and direct line from St. Louis to 
Council Bluffs and Omaha. 

The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad enters 
the county at the southwest corner, and passes 
diagonally thi-ough and out near the northeast cor- 
ner. It is one continuous line of railway from 
Leavenworth, Kansas City, Atchison and St. Joseph, 
to Chicago, Illinois. This road is actively operated 
by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad 
CorajDany, of Chicago. The Chicago, Rock Island & 
Pacific Railroad and the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific 
Railway cross each other and form a junction at 
Gallatin, the county seat of Daviess County, at or 
near the center of the county. It will be seen that 
this county has advantages for the farmer and 
6tock-raiser in that they can ship their stock and 
grain to either St. Louis, Chicago, Kansas City or 
Omaha, taking the benefit of the competition in 
trade between the business interests of those cities. 
No straw railroads have been constructed, or on 
paper only, but two great lines of railroad jjass 
through the county in different directions, each 
having one of the two great cities of the West as 
its terminus, giving an outlet to any market in the 
world. Direct railroad communication is had with 
St. Joseph, Kansas City, Leavenworth and Atchison, 
all of which are within the distance of seventy-five 
miles from the center of the county. 

MILLS. 

There are seven grist mills in operation in cou- 
TCnient portions of the county. There are also 
several saw miUs in different i)arts of the county. 

SCHOOLS. 

No county in the State has better scliools than 
Daviess. There are ninety-five school districts in 
the county, each having a good substantial school 
bouse. The school building at Gallatin was built 
at a cost of about $15,000; five instructors are em- 
ployed, and school is maintained ten months in the 



year. This school is graded, and all the higher 
branches are taught. The schools throughout the 
county are open six months in the year, and in many 
districts longer. There is in this county a reserve 
school fund of about .fft'j,000, which is loaned out at 
ten Iter cent., the interest being collected yearly and 
disti-ibuted to the different school districts accord- 
ing to the enumeration of children in them. 

Amount of State funds to be dis- 
triljuted in 1880 $4,736 38 

County funds, interest on money 
loaned 6,550 00 

Total |1 1,2.S6 38 

The school system is in good order, and school 
houses are as plentilul and as conveniently situated 
as those of any Eastern State. 

CHURCHES. 

There are scattered over Daviess County over 
forty-one church buildings, and a great number of 
school houses are used for religious worship. The 
religious organizations of this county are the Meth- 
odist Episcopal (South), Baptist, Christian, Presby- 
terian, Cumljcrland Presbyterian, Congregational, 
Methodist Episcopal, United Brethren, Calvanistic 
Baptists, Albright Methodists, Catholic and Ad- 
ventist, all of which are in a working and prosperous 
condition. 

SOCIETIES. 

The Freemasons, Odd Fellows, Good Templars, 
Patrons of Husbandry, and Ancient Order of United 
Workmen have a number of organizations in this 
county, all in a prosperous condition. 

TOWNS. 

Gallatin is the county seat of Daviess County. 
The town was located in the year 1837. It is situated 
not far from the center of the couuty, on a high 
table-land, one mile from Grand River, and at the 
junction of the AVabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway 
and Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad. It is 
at a distance by railroad from Chicago four hun- 
dred and seventy-nine miles; from St. Louis, tveo 
hundred and fifty miles ; Kansas City, seventy-five 
miles; Leavenworth, Kansas, seventy-six miles, 
and St. Joseph, Missouri, fifty-seven miles. Gal- 
latin at present contains a population between 1,500 
and 2,000 inhabitants. The buildings are substan- 
tial, the business Jiouses beiug mostly new, and the 
greater portion are built of brick. It has, being the 
county seat, all the necessary couuty buildings, 
built of brick and stone. The town of Gallatin is 
skirted on two sides by timber ; on the other sides by 
undulating prairie. Gallatin has five good church 
buildings and two school houses. One of the school 
buildings is used for the colored children, the other 
is the magnificent brick ediflc heretofore spoken of. 

Jamesport. — This flourishing town is on the Chi- 
cago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, in the eastern 
part of the county, eleven miles distant from Gal- 
latin. It is one of the most thrifty Ln<\ go-ahead 
towns in Northwest iMissouri. Jaine.-.jjort is beauti- 
fully situated on a higli rolling prairie, and in the 
midst of as fine a country as can be found in the 
State. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



131 



Jameson is a tlu-ift}- town on the Wabash, St. 
Louis & Pacific Railway, eight miles north of Gal- 
latin. It is situated in a ricli fertile country, con- 
tiguous to tlie timber and in the edge of a beautiful 
prairie. 

Pattonsburg, h^ituate in the northwest part of the 
county, on the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Kailway 
is a thriving business place surroiinded by a good 
country. 

Jackson Station and Lock Springs are stations ou 
the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway, in the 
southeastern part of tlie county, and are surrounded 
by a fine grain and stock-raising country. 

Winstonville is in the west part of the county, 
eleven miles distant from Gallatin, and on the 
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad. It is built 
upon a liigh prairie contiguous to timber, and in the 
<"enter of a rich farming country. 

Alto Vista, Victoria and Civil Bend, in the west 
part of the county; Salem in the north, and Ban- 
croft in the northeast part of the county, are thriv- 
ing towns in a rich country. 

CLIMATE. 

■ The climate of this county is mUd and salubrious, 
free from all the impurities of a murky atmosphere, 
clear and bracing ; it is not suiisassed by any country 
«f the same latitude. It is particularly noted for its 
health-giving qualities. 

KOADS. 

The roads throughout the county are numerous 
and are generally in a fine condition. Heavy rains 



do not effect the roads so that a sunshine of a few 
hours will not dry and make them as passable as 
before the rain. Tlie roads can be kept in good 
repau- with very little labor. 

The postal, telegraphic and express facilities in 
this county are good, and extend to all convenient 
parts of it. 

LAND AND ITS PRICE. 

Lands are now cheap, owing to the fact that many 
of the first settlers bought more lands than they 
needed and are now selling it to others who are 
rapidly improving it. Good improved farms can be 
bought from ten to twenty-five dollars per acre ; good 
unimproved land from five to ten dollars per acre, 
.and all upon reasonable terms. Never before in the 
history of Daviess County was there a more favor- 
able time for investments to be made, either by 
home-seekers or speculators tlian there is now. 

A complete history of the advantages of Daviess 
County has been given. The result of all these in- 
fluences is the presence of a healthful, hopeful, 
moral public sentiment among the people, produc- 
ing the natural fruits of peace, security and good 
order. Very few crimes are committed in this county 
simply because crime is swiftly and surely punished, 
a rigid enforcement of tlie law being essential to the 
safety of both person and property; and it can be 
asserted without fear of successful disproof that a 
more quiet, orderly, peaceable, law-abiding people 
cannot be found in any county in any State than the 
people of tlie County of Daviess. Neither religious 
or political strife have any place among us. 



DE KALB COUNTY. 



DeKalb County is bounded on the north by Gentry, 
east by Daviess and Caldwell, south by Clinton and 
west by Buchanan and Andrew Counties. Its 
western boundary is about fourteen miles east 
from the city of St. Joseph. It contains 263,608 
acres of land, and has a population of about 15,000. 

POPULATION AND HISTORY. 

By the census of 1870, it contained a population of 
9,858. 

The boundaries of DeKalb County were establish- 
ed January the 5th, 1843, and the 'county was or- 
ganized February 25th, 1845. 

PHYSICAL FEATURES. 

The surface is undulating and diversified by prai- 
ries and woodland. The county is well watered 
by Big Third Fork, Little Third Fork, Castile, 
Grindstone and Lost Creeks, and numerous smaller 
streams, all of which are bordered by a fine growth 
of oak, walnut, hickory, hackberry, elm, soft maple, 
Cottonwood and ash. About one -fifth of the land is 
well timbered. The soil is fine, and the bottom 



lands are exceedingly rich, and there is no part 
that will not yield a good return for the labor be- 
stowed. Almost all the streams are well bridged, 
and the roads are generally excellent. 

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 
The products are chiefiy corn, oats, wheat and 
hay. The country is well adapted to stock-raising, 
and much blooded stock has been imported. The 
first Durhams were brought in 1857, and large 
additions have since been made. An imported 
breed of hogs was introduced in 1855, and now the 
hogs of the county are equal to any in the State. 
Fruit succeeds well and considerable attention is 
now being paid to it. 

COAL AND BUILDING STONE. 
Several quarries of good building stone have been 
opened, and the entire county is underlaid with 
coal. 

MANUFACTURING INTERESTS. 
The county being, so to speak, strictly agricul- 
tural, not much attention has been paid to manufae- 



132 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



tnres. It has, lio-n-cver, an ample supply of sa.w, 
grist and flouring mills, with the necessary number 
ol wagon and blacksmith shops to meet the wants 
of an agricultural people. 

PRICE OF LAND. 

Good unimproved land can be purchased at from 
five to eight dollars per acre, and farms can be 
obtained at from ten to twenty dollars per acre, 
according to situation and improvements. 

WEALTH. 

The valuation of the county by the census of 1870, 
•wa3 $5,000,000, but the depressed times of late years 
have greatly reduced the valuation now. 

TRANSPORTATION AND WATER. 

The Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad runs through 
the southern portion of the county, the Chicago, 
Jiock Island & Paciflc through the southeastern, the 
St. Joseph & Des Moines through the northwestern, 
while the St. Louis and Omaha Division of the Wa- 
bash, St. Louis & Paciflc Railway passes near the 
northern boundary without entering the county, so 
that eveiy portion is within easy distance of railroad 
transportation. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
KaUroad Company has surveyed and propose soon 
to build a line passing through the center of the 
county from northeast to southwest. 

Tlie Third Pork of the Platte River runs through 
the west side of the county from north to south. Lit- 
tle Third Fork, its principal tributary, runs at an 
ajerage distance of flve miles east of it. Grindstone 
Qreek, a large tributary of Grand River, runs from 
aouth to north through the eastern portion, and 
Lost Creek, witli its numerous branches, waters the 
whole central portion of the county. 

TIMBER. 

Along these streams, which are fed by living 
springs scattered over every part of the county, are 
ffletributed about 55,000 acres of line timber. It is 
difficult to conceive liow the supply of timber could 
te better regulated by the people themselves, had 
they the control of it. It is ample to meet the wants 
of the county when it shall become fully populated, 
and is so situated that no point is distant more than 
thr«e miles from one of these belts. 

THE EXPERTS 

ar« hogi, cattle, horses, mules, sheep, com, oats, 
wheat, etc. 

SCHOOLS. 

Public ichoola arc established throughout the 
county, and are in a flourishing condition. In several 



of the larger towns there are good graded schools in 
substantial buildings. For several years a seminary 
has been in successful oxaeration at Stewartsville. 

FINANCIAL 

The school fund is ample and continually aug- 
menting. Taxation is low. The county is out of 
debt and lias stainless credit. 

SOCIETY. 

The people are temperate, orderly and enterpris- 
ing, and the .different denominations of Christians 
are well represented. 

TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

Maysville is the county seat of DeKalb County. 
The town is most beautifully and healthily situated 
eight miles on the stage road from Osborn. iUong 
the line evidences of the grandeur and vastness of 
this garden spot are to be seen. Water in abund- 
ance and surrounded with delightful wooded hUls 
abounding in well cultivated farms, making this 
section attractive for home sites. The prah'ie is of 
a high, rolling character, exceedingly productive. 

There are well disciplined graded schools, several 
churches ; religious and secret societies are in a 
flourishing condition. The character and standing 
of those in business is fully up to their commercial 
neighbors in both enterprise and business footing. 

Stewartsville is situated in the soutli part of 
DeKalb County, somewhat west of a meridian line. 
Its southern ))oundarj' is coincident with tlie nortli 
line of Clinton County. It was laid out in 1853 by 
George Tetherow, then owner of the town site. 
Next year he gave its present name in honor of 
Governor Kobett M. Stewart, the projector and first 
president of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad. 
It has now a population of about 800. For many 
years it has been the most important shipping point 
on the line of the road. 

There are stores of all sorts of general merchan- 
dise suflicient to meet the needs of the dense popu- 
lation in the surrounding country. Tlierc is a good 
tinshop and hardware- store, excellent blacksmith 
shops, and a good furniture store, kept by skilled 
workmen. Farm and spring wagons are made here 
equal to any from the large manufactories. Hun- 
dreds are sold annually. Great numbers of mowers 
and reapers are also sold here, of various patents. 
All kinds of improved farming implements are sold 
in vast quantities to the enterprising farmers. 
Stewartsville Academy was incorfjorated last year, 
and now lias many students. There are two sub- 
stantial churches, affording accommodation for 
Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal, and Baptist 
congregations. 

The other towns in the county are Osborn, I'^nion 
Star, Fairport, Winslow, Ilaydensvillc, Amity, 
McCartney Cross Roads, and Santa Rosa. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



13S 



DENT COUNTY. 



Dent County, bounded by Crawford, Phelps,Texas, 
Shannon, Reynolds and Iron Counties, contains, 
altogetlier, about 450,000 acres of land, divided about 
as follows : 

Rich valleys and bottoms...... 75,000 acres. 

First-class uplands 75,000 " 

Second-class uplands 150,000 " 

Unlit for cultivation 150,000 " 

That part classed as unfit for cultivation is nearly 
all good timbered land, including about 50,000 acres 
of excellent pine lands that will manufactui*e, upon 
an average, 5,000 or 8,000 feet of fli-st-class pine 
lumber per acre. And all of the land not fit for 
cultivation produces excellent wild grass and makes 
good feed for stock from April to December. 

CHARACTER OF THE LAND. 

There is now in cultivation about fifty or sixty 
thousand acres of lands about equally divided be- 
tween bottoms, valleys and uplands. 

The valleys are from two to eight hundred yards 
wide, sloping gradually from the top of the Ozark 
Mountains, and contain as fine soil as can be found 
in the State. Although the county is situate so as 
to include the mountain summit, it has more level 
lands and the surface is less broken generally than 
the other counties of south central Missouri. 

POPULATION AND OCCUPATIONS. 

The population of the county is about 10,000 in- 
cluding about 2,000 adult males, of whom about 1,200 
are engaged in farming, 600 in mining, and the 
balance in other occupations. 

MINERALS. 

There are more than fifty deposits of blue specu- 
lar iron ore in the county, about ten of which are 
now being operated. There are now being buUt 
two blast furnaces in the county, and there will in 
all probability be three or four more erected within 
the next year. 

When the iron interest becomes fully developed 
there will be engaged in it not less than four thou- 
eand employes, representing a population of 30,000, 
making the best market for farm products that can 
be found iu the State and that market at the very 
door of every farmer in the county. 



LAND PRICES. 

Lands are selling at reasonable prices, but are 
being held at some higher figures than even six 
months since. 

Tliere is but a small amount of Government land 
in tlie county, most of it having been entered under 
the graduation laws, so that if it is desired to enter 
lands directly, the immigrant cannot be accommo- 
dated here. But the fact that the lands are about 
all entered does not increase the costs of the unim- 
proved portion to any great extent. That which is 
suited for cultivation can be bought at from one 
dollar and a half to thvee dollars per acre, the titles 
in each case being good. 

RAILROADS AND TOWNS. 

The St. Louis, Salem & Little Rock Railroad runs 
to Salem, the county seat, and near the center of the 
county. 

Salem is a thrifty town of about 2,000 population, 
and bids fair soon to become the queen city of the 
Ozarks. There is as much life and activity dis- 
played there as in any town in the State of the same 
size. 

PRODUCTIVENESS. 

The lands of the county vary greatly as to quality, 
but, keeping out of the vaUeys, which are generally 
of a deep, rich loam, and liable to wash from the 
freshets, the upland is sandy and well adapted to 
the raising of small grains. Tlie average yield of 
wheat in ordinary years being from twelve and a half 
to fifteen bushels to the acre, although when prop- 
erly cultivated the yield is often more than doubled, 
and the instances are many where it i-eaches twenty- 
five, thirty, and even forty bushels. A prominent 
farmer of the county in experimenting last year with 
clover as a fertilizer, had an average of forty-five 
bushels per acre on a five acre piece. 

TUE CLIMATE. 

The climate is mOd. The extremes reached by the 
thermometer being one hundred and four degrees 
above to sLxteen degrees below zero. These are the 
extremes, the former being the highest point reached 
last summer, and the latter the lowest point reached 
during some eleven years. The winters are not 
long. 



DOUGLASS COUNTY. 



Douglass County is situated between latitude 36'^ 
iCy and 37" north and longitude 92^ and 93" west 
fram Greenwich. 

Tlie length of the county is forty-five miles and 
width eighteen miles. Its area is 810 square 
miles, and its population numbers about 7,000. 
The principal streams are the North Fork 



and Biyant's Fork of White River, Big Beaver 
Spring Creek, and a great number of smaller 
streams of running water. 

THE CLIMATE 

is mild and salubrious. At no time is it so cold bat 
what persons may perform their daily ayoeations 



134 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



-with comfort, and iu summer the heat is not as in- 
tense as in some of the more northern counties. At 
no time within the recolleclion of the oldest inhab- 
itants has the thermometer run Ave degrees below 
zero nor higher than one hundred above. 

The county is situated at the foot of the Ozark 
Mountain on the south, thereby causing swift run- 
ning streams. The mountains form the water-shed 
of all the streams south of them in the State. 

THE surfacp: 

Is composed of hills and valleys, and there is also 
considerable bottom land. The soil is varied. The 
bottom lauds or creek valleys are composed of a 
rich productive soil, which yields good crops of 
corn and cotton. The uplands include fine farming 
and grazing land. Stock of afl kinds do well. It is 
particularly adapted to raising stock, such as cattle, 
sheep and hogs. There is abundance of mast, and 
hogs will fatten on it. There is a rich and sponta- 
neous growth of grass on the hills and the unculti- 
vated portion of the valley lands, affording plenty 
of pasture for cattle and sheep. There is plenty of 
pure water for stock furnished by the streams 
described as above, and we might say thousands of 
never-failing springs of the purest water. The 
climate range and water keep the stock free from 
all disease. 

THE PRINCIPAL PRODUCTS 

are corn, wheat, oats, cotton and tobacco. Fruits 
of all kinds are grown in such abundance that there 
la as yet no local market for it. 

MINERALS. 

There is plenty of mineral in the county such as 
Iron and lead, but it is so far from market as yet 
that it does not pay to mine for it, but the prospect 
for a railroad through the northern part of the 
county (the Kansas City & Memphis Railroad) is 
good, and wben it does come the mineral produc- 
tions will pa.*' the miner for his labor. 



TIMBER AND WATER. 

There is an abundance of timber in the county 
for fuel and building purposes. • In the eastern 
portion of the county are found extensive pine 
forests that furnish lumber for home and nearly all 
of the southwestern part of Missouri, and in the 
western part is found hickory, oak, ash, Avaluut and 
various other kinds of wood sufficient to furnish 
timber for all purposes for many generations to 
come. Nearly all the streams in the county furnish 
water-power sufficient to run all kinds of machinery. 

CO.ST OF LAND. 

There is in the county 518,048 acres of land of which 
130,648 acres are taken up. There are 14,400 acres of 
school land, 5,000 of indemnity land, and 23,440 acres 
of agricultural college lands, leaving a total of 
385,000 acres of government land subject to home- 
stead entry. The whole cost of making a home- 
stead entry of one hundred and sixty acres is about 
fifteen dollars, making about nine cents per acre. 
Besides there are about 7,000 acres of township 
school lands not yet surveyed that can be bought 
for twenty-five dollars per acre, also 28,040 acres of 
indemnity and college lands that can be bought at 
the same price, and improved farms sell at three to 
ten dollars per acre, owing to locality and improve- 
ments. 

SCHOOLS AND MORALS. 

There are in the county thirty-two school houses, 
and good schools taught in .each district in the 
county three months annually. The morals of the 
county are good, as the law is strictly enforced. 

MERCANTILE INTERESTS. 

There are in the county seven saw and thirteen 
grist mills. Merchandise is handled in the three 
villages in the county, viz. : Ava, the county seat, 
Arno and Richville. Ava has a population of about 
175 ; Arno, 100, and Richville, 75. 



DUNKLIN COUNTY. 



Dunklin County is in the extreme southeastern 
portion of the State (it and I'emiscot being the ex- 
treme southern counties) ; it is bounded on the north 
by Stoddard County, on the east by New Madrid and 
Pemiscot Counties, on the south and west by the 
State of Arkansas. It is forty -four miles long and 
varying in width from ten to twenty-four miles. 

SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS. 

The soil, for the greater part, is a black sandy loam, 

of unsurpassed fertility, equal if not sui)erior to any 

in the Mississippi Valley. The westei-a portion of 



the county, bordering on the St. Francois TJiver, 
abounds in line, valuable timber, such as ash, black 
walnut, white oak, poplar, hickory, etc. There hare 
been several million feet of flue bl.ack walnut lumber 
shipj)ed from Maiden this season. 

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 

The principal products are cotton, corn, wheat, 
peanuts, castor beans, etc. 

It is estimated that there ai'e 61,400 acres in culti- 
vation, one-fourth of which, 15,300 acres, was in cot- 
ton in 1879. The gin reports show over 14,000 bales 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



135 



ginned in the county. Few of these bales weigh less 
than 500 pounds, and often as much as 700 pounds. 
The revenue to the county from cotton alone will 
not fall short of |750,000 for the year. The corn crop 
is estimated at 3,000,000 bushels. The annual ship- 
ment of cattle is about 16,000 head, and hogs about 
20,000 head. The annual revenue from fur is 
about $15,000. There is excellent range for both 
hogs and cattle, and it is never necessary to 
feed them more than three or four months in the 
year. 

A failure in crops in this country is impossible, 
unless from want of cultivation. The heaviest rain- 
fall only hinders farmers a few hours, whereas, in a 
clay soil it would require two or three days drying. 
On the other liand tliere exists no danger from 
drouth, as the water is so near the surface of the 
ground that during the most severe drouths moist- 
ure enough will rise during the night to keep the 
crops in good growing condition. 

WATER. 

And as for water, no country in the world can 
boast of so good an article, so easily and cheaply 
procured. It is only necessary to drive a pump, 
which costs from ten to twenty dollars, to a depth 
of from sixteen to twenty-four feet, which can be 
done in two hours, and a stream of water as clear 
as crystal, as pure as a snowflake, and almost as 
cold as ice itself, will reward the labor. 

PRICE OF FARMS. 

Improved farms are held at a tolerably high figure, 
persons owning such farms being content to live on 
them, knowing that they could not better themselves 
elsewhei-e. Land pa,rtially improved can be bought 
at from five to ten dollars per acre. Unimproved 
land can be bought much cheaper ; there are large 
tracts of fertile, unimproved lands, that can be 
bought for two dollars per acre, and on terms that 
will suit any kind of a purchaser. 



EDUCATIONAL, SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS. 

There is now more interest being manifested in 
the cause of education than ever before in the 
history of the county. Every school district in the 
county has its six months school, and some districts 
longer terms ; a better class of new school houses 
is being built, and the schools are all iu a prosperous 
condition. There are thirty-eight cliurch organiza- 
tions of various denominations in the county. 

PRINCIPAL TOWNS. 

Maiden, tlie largest town in the county, is at 
present the terminus of the Little River Valley & 
Arkansas Railroad, and grown up from nothing in 
the short space of two years to a town of SCO inhab- 
itants. It is surrounded by a beautiful level, fertile, 
country, and is growing very fast. 

Clarkton, seven miles from Maiden, is in a fine, 
healthy locality, surrounded by good well improved 
farms. Its society, schools and churches are as 
good as can be found in Southeast Missouri. 

Keunett, the county seat, is near the center of the 
county, and is tlie oldest town in it. 

Cotton riant, on Grand Prairie, and Homerville,. 
in tlie extreme south, and Four-Mile, in tlie north- 
west, on what is known as " The Ridge," are all 
good business points, surrounded by good society 
and a good class of farmers. 

RAILROADS. 

The Little River Valley & Arkansas Railroad is 
now running from New Madrid, on the Mississippi 
River, to Maiden, and will shortly be extended into 
Arkansas, west, and to Cape Girardeau, on tlie other 
end. 

A route has been surveyed from Dexter through 
the country south, which will doubtless be built 
soon, and will give the county all the railroad facil- 
ities she needs. Upon tlie wliole no other county 
in the State can hold out more and better induce- 
ments to immigrants than Dunklin County. 



FRANKLIN COUNTY. 



Franklin County is situated in the central portion 
of Eastern Missouri, and is bounded north by tlie 
Missouri River, east by St. Louis and Jefferson 
Counties, south by Washington and Cra\vford 
Counties, and West by Gasconade County. The 
county was organized in 1819. Union, the county 
seat, was located in 1826, at the geographical center 
of the county. 

The area of the county is 559,360 acres, one-third 
of which is under cultivation, one-third may be 
classed as mining lands, and fully one-half is more 
or less wooded or timber lands. 

POPULATION AND WEALTH, SCHOOLS AND 
CHURCHES. 

The population, by the United States census of 
0870. was 30,098. The estimated value of the real 



and personal property was $15,500,000, and for tax- 
able purjjoses the assessed value was $4,863,449. The 
rate of taxation for all purposes was one dollar and 
seventy-eight cents on the one hundred dollars. 

The county is divided into twelve civil townships 
and one hundred and seven school districts, each 
district is sujiplied with a public school house. The 
schools are well attended, and great pride is taken 
bj' tlie people in their success. 

There are sixty-seven church buildings in the 
county, divided among many Protestant Denomina- 
tions and the Roman Catholics, who have several 
veiy costly structures at different points in the 
county. 

RAILROADS. 

Two railroads traverse tlie county. The Missouri 
Pacitic skirting the northern line along the channel 



13(1 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



of the Missouri River. The St. Louis & San Fran- 
cisco road passes through the eastern half of the 
county diagonally, and joins the Missouri Pacific 
road at the town of Pacific, in the northeast corner 
of the county, from where the two roads use the 
same road-bed to St. Louis. 

These two i-ailroads, supplemented by the Missouri 
River, give ample freight facilities for all the pro- 
ducts and manufactures of the county, and brings 
every town, hamlet and farm in close connei^iou 
with St. Louis and the Eastern and European 
markets. 

COUNTY ROADS. 

There are thirty-six miles of rock roads in the 
county, and dirt roads intersect the county every- 
where. All the rivers and streams are well bi-idged 
with iron or wood. 

THE NATURAL WATER SYSTEM 

of the county is magnificent. The Missouri River 
drains the whole northern portion. The Mei-amec 
and Bourbuese Rivers and their branches, fed bj^ 
thousands of living springs, water and drain two- 
thirds of the eastern portion. The western part of 
the county has the Bouef and St. Johns, and lesser 
creeks, with innumerable springs on every tract of 
land. 

These rivers, creeks and springs furnish immense 
water-power, which, when utilized by the people, 
will make the county a large manufacturing center 
of agricultural implements, furniture, carriages, 
etc. 

MANUFACTURES. 

The county already boasts over thirty grist and 
saw mills, besides five or six steam merchants 
mills, which turn out each thirty-six thousand 
barrels of flour for export a year. 

NEWSPAPERS. 

There are published in the county four weekly 
newspapers — three in English and one in German. 

ASSOCIATIONS. 

The county has the usual number of societies and 
associations. Public enterprise sup])orts a flour- 
ishing agricultural and mechanical association, 
which ranks the etjual of any outside of St. Louis. 

THE CLIMATE 

of tlie county is mild and healthy. But little snow 
falls in winter, and ice is a very precarious crop. 
Along some of the streams chills and fevers linger, 
but are fast disa])pearjng before the advance of the 
plow and hoe. 

THE TIMBER 

of tlie county is mostly oak, walnut, i)ecan, syca- 
more, poplar, and other liard woods. The oaks and 
butternuts yield sufticient mast, in ordinary years, to 
feed and fatten thousands of swine with very little 
other food. 

GRASSES ANI> STOCK-RAISING. 

Blue grass is indigenous to the soil. This and 
other nutriious wild grasses grow luxuriantly and 



cover with a rich green carpet the hills and valleys 
two-thirds of the year. Young stock is rarely 
housed or fed the jear round. Sheep -raising is 
being introduced quite extensively into the county. 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 

The general surface of the county is qiiite broken, 
particularly the southeast portion, where the rich 
mineral region of Southern Missouri and Northern 
Arkansas commences. Lead, iron and copper ores 
crop out of all the hills and bluffs, as well as show- 
ing on the surface in the rich valleys. In this section 
are very valuable mines of lead and iron. Thousands 
of pounds of lead have been marketed in the past 
fronx one mine — the Virginia — and this is only one 
in fifty extensive lead mines worked. There are 
several large iron smelting works along the raUroad 
which passes through this portion of the county. 
Both lead and iron are in inexhaustible quantities, 
and it is estimated that one thousand miners will be 
at work in this section before another twelvenionth. 
Copper, marble, onyx, kaolin, clays and building 
rock fill this whole tract of country with untold 
wealth. 

AGRICULTURAL. 

The lands along the streams, known as second 
bottom, and the hill slopes a»d ridge lands for gen- 
eral farming cannot be surpassed. Corn yields in 
the bottoms eighty to one hundred bushels to the 
acre; wheat on the uplands fifteen to twenty-five 
bushels. Fruits of all kinds grow abundant on the 
hill tops and along the rock ridges. This country is 
well suited to vegetables, fruits and root crops. 
There is a home market for everything the farmer 
can raise among the mining population, which, in a 
few years, will be counted by the tens of thousands. 

PRICES OF LAND. 

Large amounts of land are in market, for sale at 
from one dollar and fifty cents to two dollars and 
fifty cents for wild lands, and farms with fair im- 
provements at eight to twenty-five dollars per acre. 

THE NORTHERN PORTION 

of the county, along the Missouri River, is in its 
bottom lands as fertile as the classic delta of the 
Nile. The soil is of a rich loam, from five to twenty- 
five feet deep. Corn, tobacco and hemp jield 
enormous crops. The uplands, the hillsides and 
the ridge lands yield lai-ge crops of the cereals and 
fruits. No country under the sun repays the tillei- 
better than the farming lands in this county. 

TOWNS AND HAMLETS. 

There ai'e quite a number of towns and liamlets in . 
the county. Washington, fifty-five miles from St. 
Louis, on the Missouri River and the Missouri 
Pacific Railway is the principal one in po])uIation, 
trade and wealth. Its population is about 3,.')00, 
mostly Germans and of German descent. It has two 
merchant steam flouring mills and several otlier 
manufacturing establishments. In the town is lo- 
cated tlie hospital of the Missouri I'acillc Railway, 
an institution which adds much to the renown of 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



137 



the place. The town does a large shipping trade 
in hog products, flour and wheat. But the great 
shipping interest will soon concenti-ate in fire aad 
potter's clay to the manufactories of St. Louis, as 
a most wonderful discovery has lately been made 
and developed. The clay bank has long been known 
but only witliin the last few weeks has its wonder- 
ful capacity been brought to light. It will soon 
become the greatest export from the county, and 
Avhen manufactured at the bank, make the town one 
of large interest and emijloy hundreds of hands. 

The next town in size is Pacific, at the junction 
of the two railroads of the county, and has about 
1,200 inhabitants and one steam flouring mill. From 
this point large quantities of glass sand is shipped 
to St. Louis glass works. On the St. Louis & San 
Francisco Kailway, are located several brisk mining 
towns: Moselle, near where are the great iron 
works. St. Clair, on the same road, near which are 
the great Virginia lead mines where there are two 
shafts over three hundred feet in depth. From this 
mine millions of pounds of lead have been taken in 
past years. Next comes Stanton, celelirated for 
the immense cropping of copper ore. Sullivan, is 
the last town within the county on the line of the 
railroad. This is the shipping point of the Hamil- 
ton lv<fa Works, one of the most extensive in the 
country. Near Sullivan are known to exist very 
valuable marble, kaolin, and building rock said to 
equal the Warrensburg rock. Onyx and lithographic 
stone has been found in paying quantities. 

On the Missouri Pacific Railway, west of Pacific, 
first comes Gray's Summit, surrounded by the best 
cultivated lands in the county, and Labadie, one 



among the oldest stations on the road, and Augusta 
and South Point. Above Washington on the rail- 
road and river is New Haven. This is a very flour- 
ishing town of about 800 population, several stores 
and a merchant steam flouring mill, and besides 
Washington has the only steam ferry across the 
Missouri River. Thei-e are two other little hamlets 
on the line of the road above, known as Utah and 
Berger. 

Union, the county seat, is a beautiful town in the 
center of the county containing about 300 inhabi- 
tants and a brick court house, stone jail and several 
fine brick residences, a steam flour mill and beer 
brewery. The surrounding country is extremely 
beautiful and the finest farming land in the State. 
There are quite a number of little hamlets in the 
interior of the county and several mining towns in 
the southeast part of the county, where large 
quantities of mineral are being dug and shipped to 
St. Louis. 

SUMMARY. 

To sum up, Franklin County presents to the emi- 
grant one of the very finest localities for a happy 
and profitable home in the broad West. There are 
immense bodies of wild land to be had at very low 
prices and cultivated farms are offered extremely 
low. General farming will pay better than in most 
any other portion of the State, as owing to the 
large mining interests a home market will always 
take all the surplus produce whicli can be raised. 
The county is an anamoly. Land as cheap and as 
plenty as in the new territories, with aU the coii- 
veniences around, an old settle.d country can boast 
— schools, churches and the best of society. 



GASCONADE COUNTY. 



Gasconade County became a municipal coi'pora- 
tion immediately after the admission of the State 
into the Union in the year 1821, as on the 1.5th day of 
.January of that j-ear the first county court was or- 
ganized. In the year 1828 the first permanent county 
seat was located at Mount Sterling, and in 1842 said 
county seat was removed to Hermann, which re- 
moval, together with the burden of debt left on the 
county after its division into Osage and Gasconade 
Counties, brought Gasconade so into debt that coun- 
ty scrip was exchanged at twenty-five cents on the 
dollar. 

The increase of population, with the consequent 
thrift and enterprise, soon afforded means for liqui- 
dating the obligation, and for many years past affairs 
have been so judiciously managed as to leave the 
county entirely free from debt and in a prosperous 
condition. 

The county is situated south of the Missouri River, 
and about eighty miles west of the Mississippi River 
in ranges four, five and six, west of the Fifth Princi- 
pal Meridian of the United States, and in townships 



numbers 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 and 46, north of the base 
line, and contains 323,176.05 acres at an assessed val- 
uation of $1,5.33,578, while the assessed valuation of 
personal property in the county is $1,130,207. 
There is almost every variety of 

SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS AND SOIL. 

The rich bottom lands of the rivers and small 
streams, the level and undulating prairies, the hick- 
oiy and post oak table lands, gentle slopes and steep 
hillsides, variegated with hills, hollows, caves, cliffs, 
bluffs and deep ravines, making it healthful and pe- 
culiarly adapted to the wants of the most capri- 
cious. There is is an abundance of timber for all 
ordinary purposes. 

The lowest bottoms are the most fertile ; next in 
order of fertility are the gentle slopes when covered 
with a mixed growth, as white oak, black and w^hita 
walnut, shell -bark hickory, with hazel or sumao 
underbrush. Of the third class are the pin oak, 
shell-bark hickory and prairie lands. Of the fourth 
class are the white oak, black oak and white hickory 



138 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



lands, when intermixed with sumac and hazel un- 
dergrowth. The post oak table lands belong to the 
fifth class, and the black-jack with white clay under- 
soil, to the sixth. 

It is a uniform characteristic of all the uplands, 
that from the dark red undersoil the fertility gradu- 
ally declines until the white clay lands, the least 
fertile of all, are reached. 

In the northern and western portion of the county 
the surface is very hilly; in the eastern, the slopes 
are more gentle ; while the southern portion forms 
small plateaus, these being separated from the 
streams by steep hiUs, bluifs or gentle slopes. 

There are about 3,500 acres of prairie land lying 
nearly in one tract between the headwaters of the 
Third Creek and the Bourbois River. There is but 
little bottom land along the Missoui'i River, the hills 
terminating abruptly at the water's edge. The large 
tract of about 1,600 acres in the northwestern coi'ner 
of the county is the only one of note. The largest 
tracts of bottom land are near the mouth oi the Sec- 
ond Creek on the Gasconade River, about the center 
of the west line of the county; smaller tracts are 
found near other water courses. 

Along ttie tributaries of the Gasconade River the 
rock is limestone ; on the other streams it is chiefly 
sandstone or flint. 

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 

The inhabitants are engaged chiefly in agricul- 
ture. Nearly 60,000 acres are already in a high state 
of cultivation, and 'about as much more may still be 
reduced to tillage, and laud is for sale at prices 
ranging from one dollar to fifty dollars an acre, and 
on long terms. 
The average annual crops are : 

Wheat 400,000 bushels 

Oats 170,000 

Rye 10,000 " 

Cora ?,00,000 

Potatoes 40,000 

Barley •... 7,000 

Tobacco S,000 pounds 

Wool 25,000 

VINICULTURE, FRUIT, STOCK-RAISING. 

The climate and soil are peculiarly adapted to the 
grape culture. The beautiful slopes throughout 
the northern part of the county are covered with 
vines. It is estimated that between 1,000 and 1,200 
acres are now cultivated in grape, yielding annually 
about 450,000 gallons of wine, which is disposed of 
ftt about $?.25,000. It is exported to all parts of the 
United States, and within the last year a trade has 
been opened up with some parts of Europe. 

Tliere arc about 3,000 acres in orchards. Apples 
and peaches of rare quality and superior flavor are 
produced in abundance. 

Stock-raising is not very extensively followed, 
though several hundred head of cattle, hogs and 
sheep, and some horses and mules, are exported 
annually. 

EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES. 

The county is divided into fifty-four school dis- 
tricts. Schools are in session fi'om four to ten 
months during the year. 



The school population is: Wliites, male, 2,117; 
female, 1,915; colored, male, 17; female, 8. Total, 
3,057 ; of whom in the year 1879 there were enrolled : 
Male, 1,333; female, 1,112. Total, 2,442. Total num- 
ber of daj's attendance, 156,390; average number of 
scholars attending each day in county, 1,593,546; 
average number of scholars attending each day in 
each school, 31,246; average salary of teachers: 
male, $57.85; female, $34.91, per month. Value of 
school property in the county, $18,700, not including 
a German-English school at Hermann, which has a 
building valued at about $10,000 and a fund of $10,000 
more, the interest of which is annually expended 
for school purjJoses. The expenditures for school 
purposes (public schools only) for the year 1879 were 
$14,077.17. 

CHURCHES. 

There are thirty-two churches, of the following 
denominations : Evangelical, eight ; Lutlieran, three ; 
Cougregationalist, one ; Presbyterian, six; Catholic, 
six; Baptist, three, and Methodist, five. The 
churches own 689.53 acres of land and some very 
fine church buildings, which are valued at about 
$30,000. , 

TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

Hermann, the county seat and metropolis of the 
county, is beautifully situated on the right bank of 
the Missouri River, at the entrance of Frene Creek. 
It contains about 1,500 inhabitants, almost exclu- 
sively Germans. It has tliree newspapers, "The 
Independent," " The Volksblatt," a German paper, 
and " The Advertiser-Courier." 

The buildings are substantial, mostly of brick, 
and the streets are macadamized, and owing to 
judicious management on the part of the Board of 
Trustees, the town is free from debt, and in a 
prosperous condition. 

Gasconade City lies at the mouth of the Gasconade 
River. It has about 200 inhabitants, who are engaged 
chiefly in the shipment of railway ties, a large 
number of wliich are annually rafted down the 
Gasconade River to that jjoint. The Missouri Pacific 
Railway passes through the city. 

Morrison is a nice village situated on the Missouri 
Pacific Railway, about twelve miles west of Her- 
mann, and has about 200 inhabitants. 

Drake is a new town, thougli it is an old post-office. 
It is at the crossing of the Old State Road and the 
Iron Road, the main thoroughfare of the county, and 
has a population of about sixty. 

Other post-oftlces, stores, blacksmith shops, grist 
and saw mills are located at convenient places all 
over the county, so that farmers are not incon- 
venienced by such daily wants. 

POPULATION. 

Of the whole population of the county, 6,670 are 
of foreign (mostly German) parentage. It is esti- 
mated tliat the population has increased 2,000 to 
2,500 since 1S70, making the present population about 
12,000 to 12,500. 

The inhabitants are thrifty and well regulated, as 
well as law-abiding people. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



139 



WATER. 

The county is well watered, being traversed by- 
numerous creeks and the Gasconade and Bourbois 
Rivers, while the northern boundary is formed by 
the Missouri River. The main creeks are the Frene 
Creek, running north into the Missouri River, First 
Creek, running north aiid westj emptj'ing into the 
Gasconade River, the Little Berger, Big Berger and 
Boeuf Creeks, running east into Franklin County, 
and being tributaries to the Missouri River. The 
Red Oak and Dry Fork are ti-ibutaries to the Bour- 
bois River, and together with that river have an east, 
by northern course. Second Creek has a north- 
western course, and Third Creek a western course, 
both being tributaries to the Gasconade River, which 
beautiful stream passes along through the north- 
western part of the county. The Gasconade River 
was lately surveyed by the United States Govern- 
ment, and it is proposed to improve the same for 
navigation, although several small steamboats are 
now running on the same, affording excellent 
facilities for the shii)ment of grain and other pro- 
ducts from the adjacent country to the St. Louis 
market. 

TRANSPORTATIOJJ. 

The facilities for cheap transportation are very 
good. The Missouri Pacific Railway passes through 
the entire width of the county along the northern 
part, and the southern part of the county extends 



within twelve to fifteen miles of the St. Louis & 
San Francisco Railroad, while the grand Missouri 
River, with her fine and regular packet and passen- 
ger steamers gives another mode of shipment. The 
river and railroad accommodations can hardly be 
surpassed. There are four steamboats owned here 
and run in the interest of the county. 

MANUFACTURES. 

Manufactories are not very extensively carried on 
in the county, being confined to a large hub factory 
on the Bourbois River, and a flouring mill with a 
capacity of about 25,000 bushels per annum, which 
latter is located at Hermann. 

MINERALS. 

Coal of medium quality is found in the middle 
and southern part of the county with prospecting 
and boring, with good indications in other locali- 
ties. Iron is found on the surface in many parts of 
the county, especially in the western and southern 
portions, on the Gasconade River bluffs the Third 
Creek hills, and near the Red Oak and Dry Fork 
Creeks and Bourbois River as well as on the prairie 
in the center of the county. 

There has been more prospecting for lead than 
any other mineral, and what promises to become an 
important mine was lately opened up in the southern 
part of the county. 



GENTRY COUNTY. 



Gentry County is part of tlie beautiful " Grand 
River Country," adjoining the Platte Purchase, and 
on its eastern boundary, and is equal if not superior 
to the latter in fertility of soil, smoothness of sur 
face, abundance of water and timber, and in all the 
other essentials tliat constitute the make up of a 
rich and prosperous country. ' 

The county is bounded on the west by Kodaway, 
on the east by Harrison, on the south by DeKalb, and 
on the north by Worth Counties. It is only twelve 
miles south from the Iowa line, and thirty miles 
northeast from St. Joseph, and is at the center of 
the richest corn, cattlfe and hog producing country 
in the United States. The county is twenty-four 
miles long by twenty and one -half wide, and has an 
area of 322,880 acres, all available for farming pur- 
poses and nearly ail susceptible of cultivation. 
There is no waste land in the county. 

The population of the county is over 18,000 and is 
composed of as thrifty, orderly, quiet and law-abid- 
ing a set of people as live in the older States. 

THE FACE OF THE GOUNTl«f 

is undulating, sulBciently so to afford good nat- 
ural drainage, and is divided up into beautiful prai- 



ries, lying between the three forks of Grand River, 
which traverse the county a few miles distant from 
each other, bordering the prairies with belts of oak, 
walnut and other timber valuable for farming pur- 
poses, while the prairies are dotted over in every 
direction with groves of timber which seem to have 
been designed by nature to adorn the home of the 
settler and to afford shelter for his domestic ani- 
mals. The river bottoms are wide and high, gener- 
ally above overflow, and the county is especially 
favored with a large proportion of this class of the 
most valuable farming land. 

THE SOIL 

is a dark alluvial of a surprising depth even on the 
highest prairies, as is everywhere amply shown by 
the luxuriant growth of the crops of corn, wheat and 
grass; and the river bottoms differ in this respect 
from the ])rairies only in the soil being an unneces- 
sarily greater depth; the subsoil is wonderfully 
capable of withstanding both drouth and excess of 
moisture, equally well; in the latter case it absorbs 
water like jl sponge, and retains a sufficiency to 
withstand all demands that may be made upon 1* 
during a spell of dry weather. 



140 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



THE CLIMATE 

is mild and healthful— there are no swamps nor wet 
lands ; hence no miasmas. The air is dry and brac- 
ing, particularly during winter, hence is especially 
fa,vorable to weak-lunged people. The winters are 
short and with but little rain or snow fall; the 
changes are not sudden, nor is the weather as cold 
as in the Eastern States and those further north. 
Spring comes early, affording a longer season for 
planting crops and other summer work; tlie sum- 
mers have but few uncomfortably hot daj's, while 
the nights are always cool and pleasant; but the 
long, mild, delightful autumn is the most charming 
season of this country. It is almost invariably dry, 
and just cool enough for comfort until late in De- 
cember, and is by far the most delightful season of 
the year. 

The piercing winds which sweep the prairie 
countries west and north, and are the most disa- 
greeable featiire of life beyond the Missouri River, 
are almost uilknown here, while the hot, scorching 
winds of the Kansas summers are entire sti'angers 
to Missouri — the many timber belts and groves before 
alluded to are protection and safeguard against 
them. 

TIMBER 

is abundant, and well distributed all over the coun- 
ty. Native timber is worth from one dollar to one 
dollar and a half per hundred, and cord wood from 
two to tliree dollars delivered at the door. 

COAL, 

though not yet developed, owing to the abundance 
of timber, certainly underlies the county at no great 
depth, as every indication exists, and the best au- 
thorities agree as to its presence. 

WATER 

is as abundant and well distributed as the timber, 
the streams of Grand River and their numerous 
tributaries afford stock water in all parts of the 
county, and springs are numerous all over the 
country. No trouble is experienced in finding water 
in wells sunk to a depth of from fifteen to thirtj'-live 
feet. 

ROCK 

of the choicest quality for building and other pur- 
poses, is well distributed throughout the county. 

THE CROPS. 

All the products of this latitude are a success 
here. It is a grand corn country, and from 1,500,000 
to 3,000,000 bushels are annually grown, the yield 
ranging from thirty-nine to ninety bushels per acre. 
Wheat is an excellent crop, especially in the oak 
and hickory timber soils, where fifteen to thirty-five 
bushels ))ur acre arc raised by good farmers witli as 
much certainty as in Nebraska or Minnesota. Oats 
are generally a heavy crop, giving thirty to seventy 
bushels per acre. Rye is an uncjualified success. 
Barley does well. Buckwheat, broom corn, tobacco, 
hemp, sorglium, Hungarian, millet, vegetables with- 
out end, fruits and grasses, all flourisli in this rich 
soil. 



AS A GRAZING COUNTRY 

Gentry County need acknowledge no superior. It 
is a very paradise of the wild and domestic grasses. 
More than one hundred varieties of the wild prairie 
grasses still remain upon the native ranges, giving 
the most nutritious pasturage from April" to Sep- 
tember. 

Blue grass fairly luxuriates in this deep, ilexible 
soil, 9nd is fast making the conquest of forest and 
prairie. Like white clover it is indigenous to the 
country. The timothy and clover meadows are 
equal to the best in Ohio, jSIicliigau or Illinois. 

Live stock exports of the county now reach 20,000 
swine, 8,500 cattle, 1,800 horses and anules, and about 
8,000 sheep, which, at present figures, would aggre- 
gate the magnificent sum of $1,030,500. And yet not 
more than twenty-five per cent, of the stock-grow- 
ing resources of this rich county are developed. 

I 

THE FRUIT INTEREST 

prospers here, as everywhere in North Missouri. 
Fine, thrifty, fruitful orchards, vinej-ards and smaU 
fruit yards attest the success of this noble industry 
in every neigliborhood, and the pi'oduction of 
apples, pears, cherries, peaches, grapes and smaller 
garden fruits of the highest quality might be carried 
to mammoth proportions, while the vast population 
which will soon occupy the tapper Missouri valley 
to the northwest, beyond the fruit line, and to 
which the shortest possible line of railroad con- 
nects, will afford a market almost at tlie door of the 
fanner, without an equal in the West. 

THE RAILROAD FACILITIES 

are unsurpassed. The St. Joseph & Des Moines 
Railroad having been completed fi-om St. Joseph to 
Albany, is now owned and operated by the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, which is 
about to widen and equip it as a standard gauge 
and complete it from Albany northward to a con- 
nection with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Rail- 
road via St. Joseph, making when they are all con- 
solidated into the hands of one company, the 
grandest and most important railroad line on the 
continent. 

The Council Bluffs & St. Louis Branch of the Wa- 
bash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway also passes 
through the center of the county, giving a through 
line to Cliicago and St. Louis on one hand and to 
Council Bluffs and the Upper Missouri Valley on 
the other, and at Darlington, the intersection of the 
two roads, competition Mill give shijjpers better 
rates than can elsewhere be Jiad in Northwest Mis- 
souri outside of St. Joseph, greatly to the advantage 
of those who Jive within reach of that thriving new 
town. The Quincj^ Missouri & Pacific, already 
completed to Milan, only sixty miles east of Gentry 
County, is likely to be completed to a connection 
with the Wabash Railway (which conqtany now own 
it) at some point in Gentry County during the pres- 
ent year. 

Thus two great railroads crossing at the center of 
Gentry Country will, with llieir branches, make it 
the local center of a railway system, closely related 
to, all the great lines of the East and West, giving 
the i)roduccrs and shippers of the county market 
facilities equal to any west of the gi-eat lakes. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



141 



NO SOCIAL OR POLITICAL PROSCRIPTION 

or intolerance can be found here. Political feeling 
is not so strong as in Ohio or Connecticut, and polit- 
ical action is as free and unconstrained as in Michi- 
gan or New York. The parties are closel}^ balanced, 
and the best men secui-e official favor quite independ- 
ent of politics. The social order is enlightened, lib- 
eral and progressive in a high degree. Social life is 
fi-ank, cordial and hospitable. A spirit of entei^rise 
pervades all departments of life. 

SCHOOLS. 

There are seventy-five piihlic schools and school 
houses in the county, an inalienable school fund of 
$78,000, which is being steadily increased by public 
fines and penalties, and every child in the county 
may have a thorough elementary education. There 
is not a county in the old Bay State where the laws 
are more faithfully executed, or the people more 
law-observing than here. 

CHURCHES. 

The Baptist Church has a large membership in the 
county, with several congregations and three or four 
preachers. The Methodists have several congi-e- 
gations and preachers ; the Presbyterians and Re- 
formers about the same. In fact, nearly all the 
churches are represented in the county, including 
two or three settlements of Catholics. The county 
is 

OUT OF DEBT, 

and with a valuation of nearly $4,000,000, is free from 
the burdensome taxation that has brought ruin to 
so many Eastern and "Western municipalities. 

Progress arid prosperity greet the visitor in every 
portion of the county. There are six flouring mills, 
numerous saw mills, a woolen factoiy, and several 
furniture factories, with hundreds of miles of fine 
hedge, superior highways, substantial bridges, hun- 
dreds of orchards and vineyards, fine farm homes 
and outbuildings, royal meadows, luxuriant blue 
grass ranges, and splendid herds in this fair and 
fertile county to attest the thrift and enterprise of 
the people. With all these evidences of wealth, 
prosperity and progress, the visitor is astonished at 

THE LOAV PRICE OF LANDS. 

The demoralization of land values all over North 
Missouri is without a parallel in the history of real 
estate transactions. Good wild and improved lands, 
under the most fortimate local conditions herein 
mentioned, are selling for less than the treeless 
plains 300 miles further west. They are 100 per cent, 
less than the near neighboring lands of Iowa; 200 
per cent, less than similar lands in Western Illinois, 
and as ruinously cheap as they are astonishingly 
fair and fertile. Five to ten dollars per acre will 
buy choice prairie land, and ten to fifteen dollars, 
timber land, while farms range all the way from ten 
to fifteen dollars per acre, with some at higher 
prices, depending upon location and improvements. 



New railroads being just completed into a cauntry 
heretofore without such facilities, are giving a new 
impetus and life to all business ; new people are 
coming in, new farms opening up, new towns start- 
ing and new business men are seeking locations iu 
the various localities which attract them. 

PRINCIPAL TOWNS. 

Of the older towns, Albany, the county seat, has 
a population of 1,000, and is the center of a rich and 
well settled fai-ming community. It is the present 
terminus of the St. Joseph & Des Moines Railroad, 
from which the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- 
road will extend to the main line immediately, and 
oifers good openings for professional and business 
men. 

Gentryville, Mt. Pleasant, Alan thus, Havana and 
Berlin are all good points, with room for more 
business men and a larger population. 

Darlington, at the center of the county, and at the 
crossing of the two i-ailroads, offers superior induce- 
ments to enterprising men desiring to embark in any 
kind of business, trade or profession. 

It is remote from any other town, surrounded by 
a prairie country of exceeding i-ichness, which is 
thickly settled with a substantial and well-to-do 
population. Timljer for building and fuel is near to 
the town, abundant and cheap, as is also buUding 
rock of the best quality. 

The town has a high, healthful, beautiful location 
between Grand River and Long Branch, conimaud- 
ing a view of all the adjacent countr)' for a long dis- 
tance. The best and richest part of Gentry County 
lies south and west from Darlington, in which 
direction for many miles there are no towns what- 
ever. 

King City, handsomely located upot» the grand 
prairie, is in the midst of a magnificent farming 
country, and on the St. Joseph & Dps Moines 
Railroad. The tributary country is large epough and 
rich enough to support a town of 1,500 souls. 

Millen is a new station midway between King 
City and Darlington, and is surroundec? by the 
same rich prairie country which insures a prosper- 
ous future to the three to^Tis last named. 

On the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway there 
are four stations in the county, two of whirh it is 
expected will become towns of greater or l»';s im- 
portance, one at McFalls, on the east side of the 
county, is in the midst of a rich and prosnerous 
neighborhood, and will, witliout doubt, make «i good 
trading point; the other, Stanbeny, is n(*HT the 
west line of the county, and in the midst of ^ rich 
prairie country, which will undoubtedly boop settle 
up under the influence of the railroad just com- 
pleted through its midst. Being the " di'-isioa 
town" on the Wabash St. Louis & Pacifi'' Rail- 
way, it has a certainty t)f a prosperous *rada 
and a hopeful future. Although only about sis: 
months old, it alreadv has a population of 900 
people, and has representations in all the various 
branches of business and of trade, but there Is 
room for many more, and new-comers are ooa- 
stantly flocking in. 



142 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



GBEENE COUNTY. 



Greene County is a central county of Southwest 
Missouri; is bounded on the north by Polk and Dal- 
las, east by Webster, south by Christian, and west 
by Lawrence and Dade Counties, and comprises an 
area of 465,622 acres. It lies for the most part upon 
what is known as the summit of the so-called Ozark 
Mountains, a series of table lands, delightfully un- 
dulating, and is made up about equally of timber 
and prairie, intersper.sed with clear, bright and rapid 
streams that flow over beds of gravel. Springfield, 
the county seat, is 241 miles from St. Louis, on the 
line of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway, and 
contains a population of about 8,000. The first set- 
tlements in the county were made in 1829-30, by a 
few adventurous epii-its from East Tennessee. The 
population of the county in 1S40, was 5,372; in 1850, 
12,785; in 1860, 13,186; in 1870, 21,549. The present 
population is estimated at 30,000, while the taxable 
wealtli foots up over $10,000,000. The inhabitants are 
made up of people from nearly every State and sec- 
tion of the Union. 

As an agricultural region, Gx-eene County ranks 
with the most favored. It is eminently a wheat- 
growing county, while corn, rye, oats, potatoes and 
tobacco yield abundant returns. It is a natural blue 
grass region, furnishing good pasturage for stock 
three-fourths of the year. 

LANDS ANl) SOILS. 

Greene County shows many varieties of soil, which 
may be roughly classed as follows : 

First. The mulatto soil, a rich, reddish, friable ■ 
loam, well suited to the growth of corn, wheat and 
other cereals, and producing well any crop suited 
to this latitude. This is the prevailing soil of the 
county. 

Second. The coarse-grained, or black soil, which 
is very much like the best Illinois prairie. It is rich, 
easily worked, and produces well in all crops. 

On Kickapoo prairie, south of Springfield, are large 
areas of this soil, and it is also found in a portion of 
the valley and bottom lands of the county. 

Third. The post oak soil, so named from the pre- 
vailing growth of timber upon it. This land gener- 
ally lies very level and free from stone. It is a heavy 
clay of a whitish -brown color, and is the best land 
for tobacco, producing a choice article of that crop. 
Grass, also, does remarkably well on this soil, and 
meadows sown on it remain in good condition an 
indefinite length of time, and produce heavy crops 
of timothy for many years. 

With proper cultivation the post oak kind pro- 
duces good crops of wheat and oats, but it is not so 
well adapted for corn. 

Fourth. The fine-grained, black soil, rich as any 
land can be, but generally lying low, and too wet 
for cultivation in ordinary field crops. It will, how- 
ever, produce very heavily in meadow, and where 
so located as to be cultivated, yields abundantly in 



corn or oats. There is but little of this soil in the 
county. 

The county is well watered by numerous large 
and small streams, fed by never-failing springs. 
The Pomme de Terre River, East Fork of Sac River, 
James River, and the numerous tributaries of these 
streams intersect every portion of the county, form- 
ing fertile valleys, interspersed with prairie and 
stripe of timber land. 

PRICE OF FARMS. 

Cultivated or improved lands are worth from ten 
to fifty dollars per acre. Unimproved lands are 
valued at from two to fifteen dollars per acre. 
Town lots in Springfield, 80 by 200 feet, are held at 
from seventy-five to three hundred dollars. Good, 
well-located houses, containing three or four 
rooms, may be had for five hundred dollars. The 
St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Coiiipany has 
for sale in Greene County about 65,000 acres of land. 
This includes lands of all grades, and is scattered 
over the whole county, the grant extending for 
twenty miles from the railroad on either side. The 
prairie lands of the company have mostly been dis- 
posed of, but there are still many thousands of 
acres of the best soils, supplied with wood, M'ater 
and pasturage, for sale on the easy terms offered by 
the company, viz. : One-tenth in cash and the re- 
mainder in seven annual payments at seven per 
cent, interest. The railroad lands vary in price 
from two dollars and fifty cents to ten dollars per 
acre, and offer many excellent opportunities to set- 
tlers. 

A United States office is also located in Spring- 
field, Mo. Although but few tracts of Govern- 
ment land yet i-emain vacant in Greene County 
— the choice lo(;ations belonging to the United 
States having been about all taken up — yet there 
are still 4,500,000 acres under its control and located 
in the counties of Laclede, Dallas, Webster, Doug- 
lass, Wright, Ozark, Taney, Christian, Stone, Barry, 
and McDonald. These lands can be entered under 
the Pre-emption and Homestead laws, and afford 
abundant scope to immigrants seeking homes. 

CLIMATE AND HEALTHFULNESS. 

Greene County is the highest part of the so-called 
Ozark Mountain range, though in fact it is not 
mountainous at all, but is an area of high table 
land. The altitude of Greene County is from 1,300 to 
1,400 feet above tide water, or about 900 or 1,000 feet 
above St. Louis. It will be noticed tliat this is the 
most elevated region for more than one thousand 
miles north, east, or south, and for several hundred 
miles west. The latitude of Springfield is about 374 
degrees. The above statement of the topography 
and geographical position of this county at once 
s'uggest an idea of its climate. 

In general terms it may be said that the climate 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



143 



here is similar to that of East Tennessee or tlie 
Southern part of Virginia. The temperature is gen- 
erally mild and equable, the winters short with but 
little snow, and the summers are pleasant. Like 
all inland climates, it is subject to clianges of tem- 
perature and to seasons of rain and drouth, yet 
extremes are not met with. The number of days in 
winter when the mercury falls to zero is very small. 
A fall of five inches of snow is very unusual. Stock 
cattle i-equire feeding from three to four months. 
In summer a teraperatui-e of ninety is deemed ex- 
cessive, though it sometimes rises higher. The 
nights are particularly pleasant and cool. It is 
safe to say that there is not, on the average, more 
than half a dozen nights in summer when it is un- 
comfortable to sleep under a blanket. Mosquitoes 
are conspicuous by their absence. There has not 
been a general failure of crops on account of droutli 
since the settlement of the country. The average 
rainfall is about forty-seven inches during the 
year. 

PKODUCTIONS. 

The best lands, when properly managed, will pro- 
duce from sixty to one hundred bushels of corn, 
from twenty to forty bushels of wheat, from forty to 
sixty bushels of oats, about fifty bushels of barley, 
from two to four hundred bushels of potatoes, 
sweet and Irish. Broom corn and sorghum cane 
grow finely and yield well. 

Corn is successfully grown on both bottom and 
uplands, but succeeds best on the former. This 
valuable cereal, which supplies more than any 
other the varied wants of the people, is considered 
an almost certain crop, being always well matured 
before the autumn frosts set in. 

Wheat, the great staple of tlie farmers, yields 
abundantly, rarely failing to produce a full crop. 
The quality of the grain ranks high in tlie markets 
of the great cities, being for the most part rated as 
No. 1. Winter wheat is almost exclusively raised, 
but " spring " may also be successfully grown. The 
average price paid for wheat, by Springfield dealers, 
during the season of 1879-80, was about one dollar. 

Oats are almost universally grown for local con- 
sumption, and rarely fail to produce a bountiful 
crop. Rye and barley also grow well, and command 
good prices. 

Greene County ranks among the foremost as a 
tobacco -growing county, having shown some of the 
finest specimens ever exhibited in St. Louis and 
other places. The soil and climate are admirably 
adapted to the growth of this product. The latitude 
is the same as the great tobacco-producing regions 
of Kentucky and Virginia, and the same advantages 
exist for producing it here. 

The tame grasses all grow well and yield abund- 
antly. Timothy and blue grass, however, take the 
lead. The best lands will produce fi-om two to 
three tons of hay per acre. Red clover has proven 
a success here, and in the future will be one of tlie 
leading crops of the county. As much of the seed 
is now raised and thrashed here, it can now be ob- 
tained at a less price than formerly. Wild prairie 
grass will yield a ton to the acre. 

Blue grass for pasture is now being extensively 
used, and grows as luxuriantly here as it does in 
Kentucky or any where else, as can be seen in aU 
portions of the county. 



The lands are generally dry. There is but little 
swamp land in the county. Hence farmers are not 
driven to the expense of underdraining before cul- 
tivating successfully. Neither are they subject to 
drougth. 

TIMBER. 

Timber for building purposes, fencing, and fire- 
wood, are important considerations with the immi- 
grant seeking a home in tlie Southwest. UnliKC 
treeless, prairie regions, Greene County is well sup- 
plied in this respect, Avith her beautifully diversified 
stretches of forest and prairie. The different kinds 
of oak, walnut and hickory are the chief forest 
trees, although elm, wild cherry, sycamore, hack- 
berry, mulberry, linn, maple, ash, cedar, etc., are to 
be found in many localities. A species of black oak 
(black-jack) which grows abundantly everywhere 
in the timbered portions of the county, is, next to 
hickory, the favorite wood used for fuel. 

HORTICULTURE. 

No section of country in the Great West, or in any 
portion of the north temperate zone, possesses 
greater facilities, or more natural advantages for 
the successful growing of fruits, flowers and vege- 
tables, than does Greene County. While late frosts 
occasionally cut short the fruit crop in some locali- 
ties, there are others in which the peach, plum and 
ai^ricot (tender fruits) have been known to bear 
uniform crops, with only one failure in twenty-two 
years. It is safe to say that the coimty at large will 
produce fair crops of the above fruit at least two- 
thirds of the years. 

The fruits that may be grown here witli perfect 
assurance of remunerative returns, are the apple, 
peach, pear, cherry, plum and apricot. Also the 
grape, in many varieties, together with small fruits, 
such as the strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, cur- 
rant and gooseberry. Vegetable and root crops of 
all kinds grow luxuriantly. Sweet and Irish potatoes 
thrive well. The many varieties of melons pro- 
duced with difficulty in the north temperate zone, 
flourish here in great profusion, and attain marvel- 
ous perfection. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

The following figures will sliow the resources of 
.tlie county in this particular. 

Tliere have been shipped from Springfield Station 
alone, as shown by the books of the railroad com- 
pany, from March 1, 1879 to March 1, 1880, viz. : 
152 car loads cattle, averaging 20 to 

to the car 3,040 

262 car loads of hogs, averaging 65 to 

the car 17,030 

51 car loads of sheep, averaging 100 to 

the car 5,100 

28 car loads of mules and horses, 
averaging 19 to the car 532 

VALUE. 

2,040 head of fat cattle, at f40 $121,600 

17,030 " " hogs, " 7 119,210 

5,100 " " sheep, " 5 25,600 

532 " mules and horses at $70, 87,240 

Total value of stock shipped $303,550 



144 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



It is estimated by competent stock men engaged 
regularly in the business, that the " drive " in cattle, 
sheep and mules and horses from the county, yearly, 
is about as follows : 

3,000 head of cattle, valued at $15 $45,000 

6,000 " " sheep, " " 2 12,000 

600 " " mules aud horses, valued 

at $60 30,000 



Total value of stock driven $87,000 

Making a grand total of 35,202 head, valued at $390,- 
5S0, as the annual exports of stock from tliis county. 
There have been shipped from stations in the coun- 
ty, outside of Springfield, quite a large amount of 
stock, but these have been purposely left out of this 
estimate as an offset to any that may have been 
driven to Springfield from other counties. It will 
be remembered that no account is taken in tliis esti- 
mate of the value of animals sold for breeding pur- 
poses, which, if added to the above, would make the 
amount scarcely less than $400,000. 

With the requisites for successful stock-raising, 
Greene County is abundantly blessed, and in a few 
years it is expected that this will constitute the 
chief industry of the inhabitants. 

COUNTY COMMERCE. 

Springfield, the principal town, is a fair sample of 
the entei-prise of the county. Capital has been 
freely invested in valuable public improvements, 
until to-day, in point of commercial importance, 
solidity, attractiveness, and population, Springfield 
ranks among the most ambitious cities of the State. 
What is known as the "Arkansas trade," has, and 
with proper attention always will be, an item of im- 
portance to the wholesale merchants of Springfield. 
This territory embraces the leading towns and cross- 
roads places of business in Korthern Ax-kausas this 
.side of the Boston Mountains. It now amounts to 
$1,500,000 per annum, and is being yearly increased. 

It is from this country, largely, that the enormous 
quantities of cotton, hides, furs and peltry, which 
form so important a part of our exports are received. 
This trade is looked after carefully, and such is the 
physical aspect of the country bearing towards 
Springfield from that section as compared with that 
Qf any other city north, south, cast or west, for a 
distance of more than a hundred miles, that so long 
as its merchants manifest their present enterprise 
in catering to the wants of Northern Arkansas, it 
will be retained. 

The wholesale trade of Springfield is not, however, 
confined to adjacent counties in Missouri and the 
section of Ai-kansas Just mentioned, but has latterly 
been pushed into Kansas, the Indian Territory and 
Texas. The cotton trade from Southern Missouri and 
Northern Arkansas is an item that is annually in- 
creasing in value. During the past year there were 
received 9,000 bales, the greater portion of which 
was shipped to Eastern markets. As a retail market 
Springfield has no superior among cities of its 
population, being peopled by a thrifty and indus- 
trious class as a rule, aud surrounded by an excel- 
lent agricultural country. 

RAILROADS. 

The railroad facilities, while not all that could be 
desired, and although falling far short of expecta- j 
tions in the near future, yet are of an excellent 



character. The St. Louis & San Francisco RaQway 
which now extends from St. Louis to the borders of 
the Indian Territory on the one hand, and into the 
heart of the State of Kansas on the other, is advanc- 
ing with gigantic strides towards a position among 
the most powerful and enterprising railroads of the 
counti-y, and it is now conceded will, under recent 
arrangements, be completed within a few years to 
the Pacific coast — making the great southern trans- 
continental route. This company has extensive 
machine buildings and machine shops at Springfield 
which give employment to several hundred hands, 
and will be doubled during the year. The Spring- 
field & Western Missouri Railroad is an enterprise 
of great importance to Springfield, fi-oni a commer- 
cial point of view, as it will afford a western and 
northern outlet. This road is now completed to the 
town of Ash Grove, in Greene County, and will be 
I)uilt the coming summer to Fort Scott, Kansas, 
thereby giving direct connection with Kansas Jity 
and the northwest. Another road is projected from 
the city of Sedalia to this point, and from thence 
south into the State of Arkansas, and operations 
have been commenced. A glance at the map will 
show Springfield to be a natural railroad center, as 
it was in days past the center of stage lines reach- 
ing into the great Soiithwest. In addition to Sprin- 
field, Greene County has located within its borders, 
a number of prosperous towns aud villages. The 
principal of these is Ash Grove, situated near the 
northwestern boundary of the county, and being 
the iireseut terminus of the Springfield & Western 
Missouri Railroad. It has a population of 500 or 600, 
a handsome public school building, churches, aud 
a number of the most enterprising and energetic 
business men in the West. Ash Grove, aside from 
being surrounded by a fine agricultural country, is the 
seat of the mineral wealth of the county. There are 
several other good neighborhood towns in the 
county with populations ranging from 200 to 300. 
Walnut Grove, Cave Spring, Fair Grove, Strafford, 
Brookline and Bois D'Arc, are well scattered over 
the county for the accommodation of the farming 
community'. 

THE MINERAL WEALTH 

of Greene County is great, and it is not pre- 
sumptnous to predict that in a short time the 
county will take equal rank in this respect 
with any iu the State. The principal mining is for 
zinc and lead, and so far has been conducted over 
only a small surface by one company, but with most 
gratifying results, the output for one week in March 
of 1S80 being 51,000 pounds of first-class galena. 

The ore occurs in the carbonifei-ous limestone of 
the Burlington series, throughout the western, 
northwestern and southwestern portions of the 
county, namely, at Brookline, Ash Grove and on 
Pickerel Creek, the only points where mini-ng of 
any consequence has been carried on, and the re- 
gion to which the foregoing refers. Zinc ore, except 
at Brookline, has not been discovered in paying 
quantities, and unlike Jasper, Newton and Dade 
Counties, does not appear to be intimately asso- 
ciated with the lead ore. 

The lead carbonate is found close to the surface, 
wliile the sulphuret or galena is found from fifteen 
to seventy- two feet, iu proportion to the protectioa 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



145 



affoi-ded for its preservation, either by water in a 
shallow soil or iu the absence of water, heavy de- 
posits of clay and sand which appear indispensable 
elements in the formation, to prevent a transforma- 
tion of the latter to the former and perhaps render- 
ing them almost worthless deposits. 

The east, northeast and sontheastern portions of 
the county represent the ujjper and lower Salurian 
periods and the center portion the Devonian. In 
the former the second magnesiau rock is visible 
along the headwaters of James and Pomme de 
Terre Rivers. Some few shafts have been sunk in 
these localities and good galena found, but not as 
yet in paying quantities, sufficient however to war- 
rant the belief that they present a favorable field 
for prospecting operations. 

Coal does not exist in Greene County, except in 
drift deposits found in pockets in a few places. 
The nearest workable coal is in the adjoining county 
of Dade,- on the line of the Springfield & Western 
Missouri Railroad. 

MANUFACTURES. 

The honor of being the most enterprising city of 
the State in manufacturing interests in proportion 
to its population is claimed for Springfield. One of 
the best cotton mills in the State is here located and 
is supplied with the raw material from districts 
tributary to the county. A most complete wagon 
factory, witli a capacity of tliree thousand wagons 
annually is another prominent industry. The prin- 
cipal repair shops of the St. TjOuis & San Francisco 
Railway are located at Springfield, affording em- 
ployment to several liuudred hands. The Sj^ring- 
field Iron Works would do credit to any large city. 
A large woolen mill, several valuable flour mills 
and a well appointed and successful brewery are 
also included in the list of manufacturing industries. 
It is confidently expected that the opportunities for 
business openings in paper mills, soap, cracker, 
broom and furniture factories will be properly ap- 
preciated by oiitside capital at no distant date. 

SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. . 

The city of Springfield feels very justly ijroud 
of its public schools. Under able management, lor 
a number of years past, the interest and value of 
the schools have been steadily increasing, and it is 
believed that but few cities of its size iu the coun- 
try can show so effective results at so small an 
expense. From the last report of the city schools 
it appears that an aggregate of 1,1.30 white children 
were taught during the past year at an average ex- 
pense of only five cents per scholar for each school 
day. The High School department furnishes the • 
usual High School course, and the advantages of 
the city schools are open to citizens of the sur- 
rounding country on payment of a small tuition fee. 



The city has fine and commodious school buildings, 
erected a number of years ago. 

In 1879, Greene County had one hundred and two 
school houses, and other buildings are now rented 
wherever necessary. During the past year there 
were in operation one hundred and twelve white 
and ten colored schools. In every part of the 
county school privileges of a good order will be 
found close at hand. 

Besides these, the county calls special attention 
to the advantages for higher education which it 
offers in Drury College. The college was founded 
at Springfield in 1873, and since that date has been 
rapidly growing in all the elements of permanent 
strength. It occupies a site of thirty acres, and 
possesses property in buildings, endowments, lands, 
etc., of about $150,000. It has a permanent faculty 
of ten professors, besides assistants, and an aggre- 
gate attendance of nearly three hundred students 
per year. 

All the religious denominations are represented 
in the county, and in many instances the flourish- 
ing condition of church finances have permitted the 
erection of costly and beautiful temples of worship. 

FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE COUNTY. 

The total assessed valuation of taxable property 
in the couniy, is, iu round numbers, $6,000,000, and 
the floating indebtedness smaller than for several 
years past. The amount incurred and unprovided 
for, up to January 1st of this year, is about $13,000. 
A tax of one-half of one per cent, pays the ordinary 
annual current expenses. A higher annual rate 
cannot be levied without a vole of the people. 

Taxes for th(^ support of the public schools are 
levied by the board of directors of the various dis- 
tricts, of which there are over one hundred in tlie 
county, and average iu the whole county between 
forty and forty-five cents on the hundred dollars of 
taxable property. In addition to this the perma- 
nent township and county school funds aggregate 
about $45,000, the annual interest of which, with the 
twenty-five per cent, of the State revenue set apart 
for the support of public schools, enables us to 
maintain schools, on an average, about six months 
in the year. Uut very few of the districts ai-e iu 
debt. 

The court house, with jail attached, cost $40,000. 
The county also has a good three story brick build- 
ing, which cost over $20,000, capable of accommo- 
dating about fifty paupers and insane persons, la 
connection with it is a farm of eighty acres, which 
furnislies a good portion of the support of the 
paupers. 

Banking facilities are furnished by the Greene 
County National Bank, capital $100,000; the First 
National Bank, capital $50,000; and the Banking 
House of C. B. Holland & Son, capital $50,000. These 
banks are well managed and enjoy the entire con- 
fidence of the business community. 



146 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



GRUNDY COUNTY. 



Grundy is situated in the second tier of counties 
south of the Iowa line and nearly midway in the 
great pastoral i-egion between the Mississippi and 
JMissouri Rivers, is twenty-one miles square and con- 
tains 283,000 acres. 

Its county seat, Trenton, is sixty miles north of the 
Missouri River at Brunswick, and forty miles south 
of the Iowa line. The taxable wealth of the county 
is estimated at ?3,250,000. 

PHYSICAL FEATURES. 

About three-fourths of the*county is prairie, un- 
dulating and well drained, and its numerous streams 
are well wooded with valuable timber of all sorts 
common to the State. Native lumber is abundant, 
and very cheap. The bottom prau-ies afford early 
range for stock, and the abundant timber welcome 
shade and shelter in summer and winter. The wild 
prairie grasses exist only in the bottoms, having 
given way to blue grass, which grows here without 
effort and kills out the native grasses. The county 
is well watered by North Grand River, and its nu- 
merous tributaries, the running creeks being about 
three miles apart. Very few counties ia the State 
have such an excellent proportion of prairie and 
timber, interspersed with so many fine streams of 
water, capable of supplying abundant stock water 
in the dryest season. 

The soil is black loam of great depth, rich and 
warm, and amply repays the efforts of the energetic 
farmer. 

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 

The early, nutritious bottom prairie grass, the 
luxuriant blue grass, and extensive timothy mead- 
ows, reaching into the hundreds of acres, combine 
to make Grundy a notable stock county, and this is 
its chief business. 

Here are raised herds of fine and common cattle, 
which are mostly stall-fed. Droves of young cattle 
are sold every year to Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois, 
and the western Territories. Horses and mules are 
largely raised, and sold to buyers from abroad who 
frequent this market. Sheep are largely raised, and 
the county is well adapted to wool -growing, which 
interest is largely on the increase, under the auspi- 
ces of the County "Wool Growers' Association, and 
made a specialty by some farmers. 

Corn, wheat, oats, rye, potatoes, buckwheat, sor- 
ghum, and all the productions common to the State, 
are here raised. Tobacco was formerly a staple but 
of late has received small atlention. The yield of 
corn is from forty to seventy-live bushels. 

HORTICULTURE. 

Great attention is paid to fruit-growing, nearly 
evei-y farmer having a line orchard, of well selected 
fruit of all kinds. Grapes are largely grown, and are 
a success ; a large amount of wine is made, and one 
Viuter is this year shipping his wine to Colorado. 



MINERAL RESOURCES. 

Coal abounds, and of a good quality. The abun- 
dance and convenience of timber for firewood has 
retarded the coal trade. The shaft at Trenton by 
the raUroad track is two hundred and twelve feet 
deep, works seventy hands, and supplies the Chi- 
cago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad and citizens 
who desire that kind of fuel, and is capable of 
furnishing an unlimited quantity. There are coal 
banks in the southeast part of the county and within 
a few feet of the surface. Coal has also been found 
at a depth of sixteen feet in bottom prairie on Grand 
River. Extensive quarries of limestone and sand- 
stone are on the Grand River bluffs at Trenton and 
through the western part of the county, and very 
accessible. 

MANUFACTURES. 

The Trenton woolen mills turn out a large amount 
of excellent fabrics, and its goods have a good 
reputation. There are twenty-five steam saw mills 
at work at different parts of the cotinty. Wagon 
and walnut lumber are shipped to factories in other 
States. There are ten wagon factories on a small 
scale in the county and one plow factory. Vast 
quantities of ties and piling are got out and shipped 
west. The facilities for makirfg wooden ware, 
staves, hoops, headings and barrel stuff are very 
good, owing to suitable and cheap timber. The 
coal, water and timber are here in profusion. The 
manufacturing of agiucultural implements could be 
engaged in with great success. The water-power 
of Grand River is good, and several grist and saw 
mills are located upon it. 

RAILROADS. 

The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, 
technically known as Iowa Southern & MissoiTri 
Northern runs twenty- seven miles through the 
county, entering centrally on the north passing via 
Trenton out of the northwest corner of the county. 
Trenton is a division and has the jnacliine sliops of 
the road. Trains west are run to Kansas City, 
Leavenworth and Atchison from tliis point. 

The Quincy & Missouri Pacific sui'vey runs through 
the coimty east and west, and is completed to a 
a point thirty miles east of Trenton. Its speedy 
completion is a thing assured and greatly desired, 
and will aid the material interests. The road from 
Trenton intersecting the Hannibal & St. Josepli and 
"Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific at Chillicothe is ex- 
pected to be completed this year. This will give 
Grundy and Mercer Counties a direct outlet to St. 
Louis and turn the channel of trade lately directed 
to Chicago to the home metropolis, whose markets 
can be reached in shorter time and at less expense. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

Cirand River College is an old established sciiool 
of good repute, well patronized, and under the 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



147 



auspices of the Baptists. Trenton public school is 
a commodious brick stnicture seventy-one feet 
square and cost .f20,000. It has enrolled eight hundred 
scholars and has a good coi-ps of teachers. There 
are eighty-four school districts in the county all 
well sustained and provided -with a well painted 
frame school house. Great attention is paid to the 
common schools, and they are cheerfully maintain- 
ed from six to nine months in the year from the 
public funds and taxation. 

TOWNS. 

Trenton, the county seat, contains 4,000 people, is 
growing rapidly, and spreading its improvements in 
every direction. Nearly all religious denojniuations 
are represented here. The Baptists, Catholic, 
Christian, Methodist.'? (North and South), and Pres- 
byterians, have good churches. 

There are t^vo banks, three weekly newspapers, the 
"Times," "Star" and "Bepublican." There is not a 
vacant house in town, and more new roofs are seen 
here than in any town in North Missouri. With its 
present and prospective railway facilities, it may 
safely be predicted that it will soon have a poptila- 
tion of 10,000. There arc some dozen of villages in 
different parts of the county of more or less trade, 
chiefly Lindley, Nevada, and Spickardsville, east of 
Grand Kiver, and Edinburg on west side. County 
post-oflices are numerous and mail facilities abound. 

LANDS AND PRICES OF SAME. 

There are no Government lands in Grundy un- 
improved, and good farms can be bought very low 



at this time, and on time payments. Timber land 
can be bought at prices ranging from five to fifteen 
dollars per acre, and well improved farms at ten to 
thirty dollars, depending upon location and im- 
provements. 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 

This whole Grand River country possesses a re- 
markable adaptation for timothy and clover. Tim- 
othy seed is largely raised for export, and clover 
hardly ever dies out in winter when properly man- 
aged, and has been known to be a continuous crop 
for seven years. Taking into view the great health- 
fulness of this county — second to none in tlie State 
— its rich grazing and tillable lands ; its uncommon 
stock-raising facilities, and cultivated society, it 
offers great inducements to immigrants desiring to 
settle in this iiighly favored region. 

SOCIAL FEATURES. 

The social feeling among the people is very good. 
There are no vendettas here ; no commune ; no 
Ku-Klux. All asperities tliat grew out of the war 
have ceased to exi.st in this part of the State, and 
perfect good feeling obtains in Grundy County. Its 
people come from all parts of the common country. 
One-third, say, from Kentucky, Virginia and Tennes- 
see, and the balance from Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, 
with a smart sprinkling of New England people. 
Perfect toleration and freedom of speech and opin- 
ion prevails on all subjects. The liand of welcome 
is cheerfully extended to all new-comers, from 
whatever quarter they may come. 



HARRISON COUNTY. 



Harrison County is bounded on the north by Iowa, 
east by Mercer and Grundy Counties, south by Da- 
viess, and west by Worth Counties, and contains 
464,294 acres. It lays in the northwestern part of the 
State, and is known as a jsart of tlie " Grand River 
Country." By the census of 1870 it contained a pop- 
ulation of 14,635. The county was organized Febru- 
ai-y 14, 184.5, and named in honor of Hon. Albei-t G. 
Harrison. 

PHYSICAL FEATURES. 

The surface of the country is generally undulat- 
ing, with a little low laud and a small portion that 
is broken. About four-fifths is prairie, and the bal- 
ance timber, which is principally confined to the 
water courses, and though not abundant, it is suffi- 
cient for all practical purposes and consists mainly 
of oak, hickory, elm, walnut, ash, linn, etc. 

THE SOIL, 

which is generally good, is a dark brown loam, one 
to three feet deep, with a small mixture of sand, 



and rests on a clay subsoil. Grand River passes 
along the eastern side from the Iowa line to within 
a few miles of the southeast corner of the county. 
It furnishes water-power almost the entire year. 
Big Creek, an affluent of Grand River, traverses the 
center of the county from north to south, while 
Sugar, Sampson, Cji^ress, and some other smaller 
creeks, drain the other parts of the county, and fur- 
nish an inexhaustible supply of water for stock of all 
kinds, the raising of whicli is carried on to a veiy 
lar-ge extent. The streams usually have rocky or 
gravelly beds, and rapid currents. 

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 

The staples are wheat, corn, rye, potatoes, horses, 
mules, cattle, hogs and sheep. Flax, broom corn, 
sorghum, sweet potatoes, buckwheat and beans suc- 
ceed well. Fruits and grapes are extensively and 
successfully cultivated. 

THE MINERAL RESOURCES 

consist of building stone in abundance, and coal, 
which has been discovered near Bethany, at a depth 



148 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



of eighty feet. A little coal mining is done near 
Mount Moriah. 

MANUFACTURING INTERESTS. 

First-class flouring mills are in operation at Beth- 
any, Easjleville and Lock's Mill in the eastern part 
of the county, and at Gainsville, in the northeast. 
A good woolen factory, for carding and spinning, is 
in operation at Bethany. 

WEALTH ANI> INDEBTEDNESS. 

The valuation of the county, as per census of 1870, 
■was $7,500,000, and the county is out of debt. 

KAILROADS. 

Exports are taken from, and merchandise brought 
to the county via the AVabash, St. Louis & Pacific 
Railway on the south, tlie Chicago, Rock Island & 
Pacific Railroad on the east, and the Burlington 
& Missouri River Railroad on the north; the first 
being twenty, the second twenty-sbc, and the last 
forty miles from Bethany, the county seat. 

THE EXPORTS 

are corn, -wheat, oats, rye, potatoes, eggs, butter, 
mules, horses, caftle and sheep. 

SCHOOLS. 

There are one hundred and fourteen sub-districts 
organized under the public school system of the 
State. They are in a flourishing condition, the 
people being alive to the importance of educa- 
tion. The school fund is ample, and taxation for all 
purposes very low. 

• RELIGIOUS. 

The different denominations are well represented 
all over the county, and good and substantial 
churches are to be found in the principal towns 
and in central points tliroughout tlie county. The 
people are sober, orderly and intelligent. The 
county is princii)ally settled up by people from 
the old free States. 



PRICE OF LANDS. 

Unimproved lands of desirable quality can be 
purchased from ffve to eight dollars per acre. 
Farms can be had from ten to twenty dollars per 
acre, according to locality and improvements. 

TOWNS. 

Bethany is the county seat, located on the east 
fork of Big Creek, near the center of the coimty. It 
was laid out in 1845, and incorporated in 1858. Its 
population by the census of 1870 was 2,460. West 
Bethany is also incorporated, but the two are 
usually considered one. Bethany has the advantage 
of good building material, limestone, sandstone, 
good timber, and clay for brick, all near at hand. 
It contains a finfe flouring and custom mill, two 
banks, fourteen stores, three saddler shops, and 
three or four churches and good schools, besides 
the usual number of shops and other industrial en- 
terprises. It is a flourishing town of very consid- 
erable importance, and the peojde are orderly, in- 
dustrious and enterprising, making a pleasant and 
agreeable place of residence. 

Gainsville, seventeen miles northeast of Bethany, 
and thirteen miles northwest of Princeton, is a 
thrifty town of about 300 or 400 inliabitants, and 
contains several stores and a flouring mill, and lias 
good schools. 

Eagleville is fifteen miles north of Bethany, is a 
splendid farming country, and has a good flouring 
mill, a dozen stores, three hotels, a graded school, 
and three churches. It has a population of about 
800. 

Minor towns are Akron, Andover, Blue Ridge, 
Bolton, Brooklyn, formerly called Suells Mills, Bun- 
Oak, Hamptonville, Martinsville, Morris Ridge, Mt. 
Moriah, Pleasant Ridge, Thomas, Yankee Ridge 
and Mitchelville. 

SUMMARY. 

The county is out of debt, taxation is very low, 
county wai'rants are at par; and, taken all In all 
Harrison county is an inviting field to immigrants 
in search of a good countv to locate in. 



HENRY COUNTY. 



Henry County is situated between the 38th and 
89th parallels of latitude, and joins the border 
county of Bates, thus placing it in the midst 
of that section of the State known as " Southwest 
Missouri." It contains al>out 470,000 acres of land, 
of whicli about one-fifth is tiuibercd. The jiropor- 
tion of waste or uutillal)lc land as compared witli 
Biany surrounding counties is merely nominal, thus 
insuring equality in the burden of taxation! 

WHEN FIRST SETTLED. 

Tha pioneers first settled in this county about the 
year 1830, and at that time were mostly from the 



older settled counties nortli. In 1883 the survey 
was completed, and lands could be entered, when 
immigration increased and settlers located in eveiy 
portion of the county. In 1857, all arable lands re- 
maining unentered Mere taken up either by settlers 
or non-re.-ideuts for purposes of speculation. 

I'KICE OF LAND. 

At the ijresenl time not 15,000 acres of arable lands 
in the county remain unimproved in tlie hands of 
patentees. These lands could have been sold in 
1S69 and 1870 at from nine to twelve dollars per 
acre, but owners held for higher figures ; then during 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



149 



the depression their faith was so great that they 
continued to insist on their former prices. Much of 
the unimproved lands in the hands of patentees in 
the fall of 1879 has since been disposed of to residents 
at from ten dollars and fifty cents per acre, down, 
according to quality and location. 

SCHOOLS. 

The county is divided into nineteen municipal 
townships and one hundred and three school dis- 
tricts, each possessing a good school building, nearly 
new, and wholly paid for, which, as a rule, are in 
addition to use as schools, devoted to Svinday- 
schools and preaching on the Sabbath. 

PKAIRIE, TIMBER AND STREAMS. 

The timber of Henry County is excellent and 
includes all varieties found in the State, the most 
valuable being black walnut, hickory, burr oak and 
white oak. The county is watered by over twenty- 
five streams whose banks are covered by a fine 
growth of timber, among them Grand River, Deep 
Water, Big Creek, Fields', Shai-ps', Wliite Oak, 
Honey, Barker's, Deer, Coal, Bear, Marshall's, Coop- 
er's and Otter Creeks and the three Tebos, with 
their never failing supply of pure water, are among 
the sterling advantages offered by this county. The 
timber lands are also mostly susceptible of culti- 
vation. 

THE SOIL. 

The county possesses an unusual jyroportion of 
rich tillable prairie land. In round numbers there 
are 360,000 acres of good arable prairie lands, and 
15,800 of good pasture lands not timbered. 

The major portion of the soil is choice black lime- 
stone, and the minor portion freestone, each hav- 
ing its fast friends. The face of the country is un- 
dulating, occasionally rising into mounds, but not 
too high for the pleasant location of farm buildings. 
It is rare to find a farm in cultivation on stony land, 
where it is almost impossible to secure one hun- 
dred and sixty or even eighty acres free from rock 
and stone, and requiring years to remove them. 
The farming is nearly all done by improved ma- 
chinery. 

COAL. 

The lower coal measures are found exclusively in 
Henry County, comprising a vertical section of 
rocks and shale of two hundred and fifty to three 
hundred feet, including five workable seams of coal 
from eighteen inches to five and one -half feet in 
thickness, and several thin seams covering an area 
of three hundred square miles with three and one- 
half feet of workable coal, and two hundred and 
fifty square miles with six and one -half feet of coal 
and one hundred and fifty square miles with ten 
and one-lialf to twelve feet of coal, or in all six 
hundred and fifty square miles with three and one- 
half to twelve feet of this valuable fuel. 

CROPS. 

The staples are corn, wheat, oats, millet, flax, 
broom corn, timothy and clover. Corn has made 
in an average season, with the best farming, one 
hundred bushels per acre on the high prairie, j 



Wheat of infei'ior producing varieties has yielded 
an average of forty bushels per acre on forty acres. 
Oats of the Texas red variety has given ninety 
bushels, and the ordinai-y white and black returns 
fi'om thirty to fifty bushels. German millet, re- 
cently introduced, proved a fine crop in 1879, many 
having thrashed forty bushels of seed per acre for 
the crop, worth sixty-five cents at the railroad. Flax 
is not considered a reliable crop for profit, but the 
stubble ofi'ers a fine basis for seeding to grass or 
improves the soil for wheat. Timothy is a profitable 
and reliable crop, while clover is invaluable to the 
stock man. Irish and sweet potatoes are raised by 
nearly all farmers, but only in isolated cases for 
outside markets. The returns are satisfactory from 
this crop as a rule. 

FRUITS. 

All fruits known to the temperate zone are grovirn 
with siiccess in this county and section. 

Notwithstanding apple orchards ai-e in their 
infancy, as a rule, the prospect is assuring for a 
million bushel crop this j-ear. Peaches are found 
in every orchard and yard, and they promise to 
equal the apple crop in their productiveness. Cher- 
ries grow everywhere, and the Wild Goose Plum is 
very thrifty and a i^rolific bearer, and enjoys immu- 
nity from the attacks of the aurculio, so fatal to 
other choice varieties proving i^rofitable. All of the 
choice small fruits, viz.: gooseberries, strawberries, 
blackberries, raspberries, etc., can be had in abund- 
ance by planting. The Lawton blackberry has been 
known to yield here for daily use during two 
months. 

Grapes find here their natural home, and produce 
unrivaled crops of the choicest fruit. The favorite 
is the Concord, this variety proving moat hardy and 
reaching the greatest perfection here. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

This county long since established a claim to rank 
among the first stock-raising counties of the State. 
While unlimited facilities for free grazing were at 
the command of all, — farmers were indifferent 
regarding the quality of their herds. Later, with 
the fencing and cultivation of their former range, 
an interest has been fostered for thoroughbred and 
graded cattle, until a large number of farmers are 
owners of entire herds of well -graded stock. Nu- 
merous herds of registered and pedigreed cows of 
the choicest strains of Durham blood are found here. 
This disposition to improve has not stopped with 
cattle, but extends to horses, mules, hogs and sheep. 
Breeding for mules is practiced largely, and a large 
number are in use here, while the surplus sold ma- 
terially increases the revenues. 

COMPARISON OF ASSESSMENTS FOR 1870 
AND 18S0. 

1S70. 

461,000 acres of land assessed at |4,843,460 

Town lots 533,876 

No. of cattle, 16,171; value, $252,395 
" " horses, 5,633; " 300,275 
Total personal 1,398,000 . 

Total aggregate $6,670,.536 



150 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



1880. 

460,000 acres of land aeseesed at $2,341,700 

3,699 town lots 470,610 

No. of cattle, 33,185; value, $434,931 
" " horses, 9,596; " 301,000 
Total personal 1,807,710 

Total aggregate ?4,620,020 

By the assessment for 1870 the lands were valued 
at an average of $10.50 per acre, horses, at $53.33 av- 
erage, and cattle at $14.50 each, while the assessment 
for 1880, made August 1, 1879, places the lands of the 
county at $5.10 per acre average, while horses are 
valued at $31..33 each, and cattle are listed at $13.10 
per head. The lands have gained in value through 
the varipus improvements made during the last de- 
cade, fully fifty per cent, but still they are taxed at 
half their then value. Added to this the State and 
county levy is fully thirty per cent, less on the one 
hundred dollars valuation than in 1870, hence taxa- 
tion is comparatively nominal. 

The assessment, being made August 1, does not 
represent the thousands of cattle and hogs bought 
fey large feeders in other counties and States. This 
influx occurs from September to November, and 
they are fed and disposed of by or before June. The 
increase in the number of cattle and horses during 
the last decade is about one hundred per cent. 

TOWNS. 

Clinton, the county seat, is incorporated as a city 
of the first class, under the law of 1877, and has a 
population of 3,600 within the city limits, and 4,000 
including suburbs. Her principal growth dates 
from 1867. An immense business is done in eveiy 
line of merchandise. Since 1877 her business houses 
have been considerably increased, but none are 
vacant. The different religious denominations are 
represented by seven churches. The public school 
buildings are large, substantial and tasty, sur- 
rounded by commodious grounds, shaded with 
ornamental trees. 

Here wiU be found two banks, with ample capital; 
four good hotels ; three livery stables, and a good 
elevator at the depot. Also, two first-class mer- 
chant flouring mills, the largest of which has a 
capactiy for 175 barrels per day, and two gi-ist mills 
that make the production of choice meal a specialty; 
one saw mill, one woolen mill and three wagon and 
carriage factories. 



The country sur.ounding Clinton is, in addition 
to being a richly productive agricultural region, 
underlaid with several thick veins of the choicest 
coal, which is now worked by several firms who 
make it a specialty, and find a home market for 
half a million bushels annually. There are five 
licensed cigar factories doing a large business with 
headquarters here. Some fine i-esidences adorn the 
city. 

Windsor, situated twenty miles southwest of 
Sedalia, on the Blissouri, Kansas & Texas RaUway, 
contains about 1,500 inhabitants, is very prosperous, 
and has a good bank, new and commodious public 
school building, four good churches, and located in 
the heart of a district rich in choice and easily 
mined bituminous coal, some of the veins reaching 
a thickness of six feet; and, in addition, has the 
trade of a very rich farming .section. 

Calhoun, located on the same railroad, seven 
miles southwest of Windsor, is the pioneer town of 
the county, and contains a population of about 
800. Here are located four good potteries, all doing 
a thriving business; a good merchant flouring mill 
of moderate capacity, and the town is supported 
by a rich farming section, and is prospering an- 
nually. 

Lewis, five miles south of Calhoun, on the rail- 
road, owes its existence to the deposit of fine coal 
adjacent. The population is about 400, principally 
miners. This is the headquarters of the " Osage 
Mining Company" in this county, and they are 
shipping twelve car loads daily. The vein now 
operated being five and a half feet thick, with a 
shaft one hundred feet deep. 

Six miles southwest of Lewis is Clinton, and on 
six miles southwest of Clinton is the railroad town 
of Ladue, with a population of about 300. 

Montrose, seven miles southwest of Ladue, is also 
a railroad town, with a promising future. Thia 
town is surrounded by a very rich farming section, 
and receives liberal support from Bates County. 
Here is found two elevators, a merchant mill, 
livery statole, hotel, public school and four churches, 
beside a full representation of business men. 

This completes the list of railroad towns, but, in 
addition, there are eight hamlets located over the 
county, containing stores, churches, schools and 
other conveniences. 

A careful estimate will give this county not lesa 
than 25,400 inhabitants. 



HICKORY COUNTY. 



Hickory County lies in southwest portion of the 
Stale, bounded north by Benton, east by Camden 
and Dallas, south by Dallas and Tolk, west by St. 
Clair, and contains 260,998 acres. 

Population in 1850 2,,329 

" 1860 '. 4,705 

" " 1870: 6,4.52 

" " 1880 estimated at 7,200 



THE FACE OF THE COUNTY 

is varied, being about two-thirds timber land and 
the balance prairie. The Pomme de Terre River 
entering on the south and running due north divides 
the county into two nearly equal parts. In the 
eastern part is Little Niangua Creek, in the south- 
ea*it are Crane Creek, Inglee Creek, and Lindley. 
In the west are Little Pomme de Terre Creek, 



Hand-Book or Missouri. 



15 L 



Nagles Creek and Weaubleau Creek. Springs are 
numerous, and afiford an abundance of pure, health- 
ful water. Water-power on the several creeks amd 
Pomme de Ten-e River is available at a number of 
places. Along the streams are very fertile bottoms, 
back of which to the edges of prairies it is rocky, 
clothed with oak timber. The prairies are rich 
loam and are well cultivated. The bottoms are 
clothed with heavy timber, consisting of the various 
kinds of oak, hickory, walnut, sycamore, elm, ash, 
butternut, persimmon, hackberry, coffee bean, 
honey, locust, maple, and gum. The valleys and 
prairies are very productive. The broken country 
between the valleys and prairies are mostly too 
rocky for profitable cultivation, but abounds in 
ranges for stock, the grass on which is nutritious 
and abundant. In fact no better stock-growing 
county is to be found in Southwest Missouri than 
this. 

THE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS 
are wheat, rye, coi-n, oats, Irish and sweet potatoes, 
cotton, sorghum. Corn is the staple, and for fruit 
this county cannot be excelled. About two-thirds 
of the county is arable. There is still some Gov- 
ernment and swamp lands in this county for sale. 

MINERALS. 

The county abounds in minerals, chief among 
which are galena in large quantities, zinc, blende, 
cannel coal, iron, and indications of copper. Lead 
mining can be made a profitable investment. 

RAILROADS. 

There is no railroad running through this county. 
The Sedalia, Warsaw & Southwestern Railroad 
will pass through this county. No survey has yet 
been made south of Warsaw. The road-bed is, 
however, nearly completed to Warsaw, on the 
Osage River, twenty-five miles north of Hermitage, 
and the track laid down ten miles south of Sedalia. 

THE MANUFACTURING INTERESTS 
are chiefly confined to flouring and saw mills as 
yet. 

COUNTY FINANCES. 

The valuation as per assessment of 1879 is as 
follows : 

Real estate and town lots .$632,-054 

No. Value. 

Horses 3,729 $110,492 

Mules 828 29,080 

Jacks and Jennets ... 35 1,115 

Neat cattle 13,373 139,658 

Sheep 7,997 8,048 

Hogs 13,161 12,690 

All other property 207,782 

Total $1,140,919* 

The county taxes for all purposes is one -half of 
one per centum, except school taxes, each school 
district regulating its own taxes. The county has a 
small floating debt of some $3,000. 

RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL. 
The churches are well represented in the various 
Christian denominations, and a great interest is 
manifested in schools. There are some fifty or sLxty 



district schools, generally conducted by energetic 
teachers, and the schools are well attended from 
four to eight months a year. Weaubleau Chris- 
tian Institute, at Weaubleau City, is a school of 
high attainments and conducted by first-class pro- 
fessors and assistants. It is situated in a healthful, 
moral and wealthy community. 

The funds for school purposes are derived main- 
ly from State, county and township funds, the re- 
mainder, about one -third, from a levy on the taxable 
wealth of each district. 

TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

There are no large towns in the county. Her- 
mitage, the county seat, has a population of about 
200, is situated on the Pomme de Terre River near 
the center of the coiinty ; has two dry good stores, 
one drug store, church, school house. Masonic hall, 
one Good Templar Lodge, several blacksmith shops, 
and is surrounded by some very productive and 
extensive farms of river bottom lands. 

Wheatland, five miles west of Hermitage, has a 
population of about 250, has two dry good stores, 
two drug stores, school house, one Odd Fellows 
lodge, one Good Templars lodge, one good steam 
flouring and saw mill, one carding mill, several 
cabinet shops, and blacksmith shops, and is situated 
on Twenty-Five Mile Prairie in the midst of a fine 
agricultural country. 

Quincy, in the western portion of the county, has 
two dry good stores, one drug store, a carding mill, 
several blacksmith shops, one school, one public 
hall, one Masonic hall, one Good Templars lodge, 
and is surrounded by a good agricultural country. 
Population about 200. 

Cross Timbers, in the northe'ast part of the county, 
on North Prairie, has two dry good stores, one drug 
store, one school, one church building, one Good 
Templars lodge, blacksmith shops, and is surroun- 
ded by good agricultural lands. 

Black Oak Point, seven miles east of Hermitage, 
has two dry good stores, one church, one school, 
one Masonic hall, one good Templars lodge, black- 
smith shops, and is situated on Fifteen Mile Prairie, 
in the midst of a good farming country. 

Pittsburg, a post-office seven miles south of 
Hermitage, has one store. 

Blkton, a post-office eleven miles southwest of 
Hermitage on Twenty-Five Mile Prairie has two 
stores. 

Weaubleau City, fifteen miles southwest of Her- 
mitage, is the seat of the Weaubleau Christian Insti- 
tute, has one store and is situated on Weaubleau 
Prairie, a fine agricultural and grazing country. 

Cornersville Post-offlce, three miles northeast of 
Weaubleau City, has one store. Roney Post-olflce, 
four and a ha;if miles northeast of Cross Timbers. 
Goose Neck Post-office, seven miles east of Black 
Oak Point. Lone Spring Post-oflice, five miles south- 
east of Black Oak Point. 

LAND AND PRICES. 

Tlie lands in this county now belonging to the 
Government are not generally considered valuable. 

Unimproved araljle land can be purchased at from 
two to five dollars per acre, according to location 
and quality; improved farms at from five to ten 
dollars per acre ; and a few choice small farms, well 
improved, at prices something higher. 



152 



Hand-Book op Missouri. 



HOLT COUNTY. 



Holt County is situated in the northwestern por- 
tion of the State, and forms a part of that fertile 
tract of land known as the Platte Purchase. With 
Atchison County on the north, and Nodaway and 
Andrew Counties on the east, Holt has its entire 
western and southern borders on the Missouri 
Eiver. Its area is 434 square miles, or 277,760 acres, 
including unsurveyed lakes and navigable rivers. 
Its population is 20,000, Tlie early settlers came 
from Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana; immi- 
gration during late years has been chiefly from In- 
diana, Ohio, and Illinois. 

SOIL. 

There are few distinct classes of soil in this coun- 
ty. About one-flfth of the county is bottom lands, 
which consists of alluvial deposits made by former 
overflows of the Missouri River. Of this soil there 
are two vai-ieties : First. A silicious alluvial, inter- 
mixed with clay and humus, a vegetable mould. 
This is exceedingly fertile and produces immense 
crops of various cereals. It is light, friable and 
easily worked, and withstands drouth. Second. A 
variety known as gumbo; a tenacious vegetable 
mould, that after being thoroughly soaked with 
water cracks in drying, leaving the land lumpy and 
difficult to cultivate. However, this gumbo is very 
fertile,. and since it is* underlaid by a strata of sand 
at a depth of twelve to flfteeu inches, it is capable of 
being subsoiled, and hence rendered very valuable 
laud. 

The bluff formation constitutes the third class of 
soil, and comprises about 80,000 acres, most of which 
is peculiarly adapted to fruit culture. It is here 
that ihe largest and most profitable vineyards and 
orchards are planted. The soil of this formation is 
porous and in many places exceedingly deep. 

The fourth class embraces the upland prairies, 
which consist of a dark loam, intermixed with 
sufficient sand to make it porous. "Hard-pan" 
land, therefore, is unknown in Holt County, since 
iutei-mixture of sand extends down to the rock 
strata, thus afi'ording adequate drainage for exces- 
sive rains, while the soil retains sufficient moisture 
to withstand droutli. One-half of the bottoms and 
two-thirds of the uplands of the county are prairies, 
the uncultivatefi portions of which have heretofore 
furnished excellent pasture for large numbers of 
horses, sheep and cattle, and in addition thereto 
yielded from<one to three tons per acre of good hay. 
Where this land has been pastured closely the sod 
can be turned by a single pair of good horses or 
mules, and where the grass is heavy the sod can be 
turned readily with three horses. 

VKOOUCTIVENESS. 

The soils of Holt County are peculiarly adapted 
to tame gi-asses. Blue grass grows readily, and 
will supplant the prairie grass where the latter is 
e^ten down by stock. Timothy and clover are easily 



started and thrive well, producing from two to four 
tons of hay per acre. The average production of 
grain per acre is as follows : Corn, fifty bushels ; 
wheat, eighteen; oats, thirty; barley, twenty -five, 
and i"ye, twenty. The price realized by farmers for 
these lu'oducts vai'ies according as the season is 
propitious or unfavorable. Corn, for example, sold 
for tM'elve to twenty cents in 1S72, while in 1874 it 
brought seventy-five cents to one dollar per bushel. 
Wheat sells at fi-om seventy-five cents to one dollar 
and twenty-five cents per bushel; oats at twenty to 
forty cents ; barley, forty to sixty cents, and rye at 
fifty to seventy-five cents; though at times the 
various products may exceed these figures. 

Corn, the main product of the county, is usually 
planted from April 15 to May 15, though in excep- 
tionally early springs it can be planted in March, 
and has been known during one year to yield a fair 
ci'op when planted as late as the first of July. 

PRICE OF LAND AND COST OF FENCING. 

Unimproved laud sells from six to twelve dollars 
per acre, according to locality, while improved 
farms can be bought for eighteen to thirty-five 
dollars per acre. 

The cost of fencing depends on the kind of 
material used. First-class oak posts can be bought 
at seven cents each in the timber. Native lumber 
costs from ten to twelve dollars per 1,000 feet. Pine 
fencing costs eighteen to twenty dollars per 1,000 f eet.^ 
By using barbed wire for the top and plank for the* 
bottom the cost of fencing can be somewhat re- 
duced. Middle posts can be shorter and hence 
cheaper than those to which the wires are attached, 
and yet make a strong and lasting fence. The Osage 
Orange is used extensively, and when once well set 
makes a permanent fence against all stock. These 
hedge plants cost from one dollar and fifty to two 
dollars and fifty cents per 1,000, and at four to six 
years old make an excellent fence. From these 
estimates of fencing the cost of building can be 
approximated. Rock and sand suitable for building 
exist in exhaustless quantities in many portions of 
the county. 

CLIMATE. 

With an altitude of SOO to 1,200 feet above the level 
of the sea, and a dr}', bracing air, the climate of 
Holt County is unusually healthful. The air is 
remarkably free from humidity, and even during 
protracted rains rarely becomes completely satur- 
ated, the hygrometer invariable indicating slight 
evaporation. Though occasionally severe the win- 
ters are generallj' mild and sometimes delightful. 
The spring and autumn months are mild and pleas- 
ant. The average annual temperature of Oregon, 
the county seat, as ascertained by observations 
from 1&55 to 1S75 is 52 -. The average rainfall is from 
thirty to forty inches. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



153 



STREAMS AND TIMBER. 

The county is abundantly supplied with springs 
and small streams, which afford ample water for 
stock. The few farms that are destitute of running 
water can be easily supplied, as the nature of the 
soil renders well-digging expeditious and cheap 
work. Excellent water can be found on the uplands 
fi-om twenty to fifty feet. The Nodaway River, Big 
and Little Tarkio Rivers, with numerous creeks, 
furnish water-power for milling. The first districts 
embrace about one-third of the county, and barring 
the north central and northeastern i)ortions areM^ell 
distrilnited. 'They are comjiosed of numerous varie- 
ties of trees — the various kinds of oaks, hickory, 
ash, soft and hard maple, hackberry, mulberiy, elm, 
Cottonwood, etc. The Missouri bottom furnishes 
large quantities of building and fencing material. 

■TRANSPORTATION. 

The railroad facilities of the county are good, but 
will soon be greatly improved. The Kansas Citj^, St. 
Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad passes through 
from southeast to northwest, having 37.7 miles of 
road in the county^ the assessed valuation of which 
is over $460,000. This road furnishes an outlet for 
grain and stock to both Chicago and St. Louis. There 
are also two new roads being built, one from Bige- 
low, on the Kansas City, St. Joseph,& Council Bluffs 
Railroad, to Burlington Junction, on the St. Louis & 
Omaha Road, and another, the Corning & Clarinda, 
from Corning, in the northwest part of the county, to 
Clarinda, Iowa. 

INDUSTRIES. 

Farming and stock-raising are the chief occupa- 
tions. Hogs and cattle have undergone vast im- 
provement during the last decade, and some attea- 
liion has been given to sheep and horses. 

As the wild lands are being enclosed and culti- 
vated, pastures of tame grasses are being prepared 
by stock breeders. The Berkshire and Poland-Cliina 
hogs are preferred by most farmers, and the Short- 
horns are the favorite cattle, though the Herefords 
have their advocates. The latter breed have not 
yet been introduced, though several fine herds of 
Short-horns ai-e owned in the county. Short-horn 
bulls sell for $75 to ^2M, and cows and heifers from 
$100 to $300. Exceptionally good animals sometimes 
exceed these figures. 

Good common cattle are always in demand, and 
sell at figures profitable to the breeder. 

Calves sell at from $ 8 to $1.5 

Yearlings " " 12 to 20 

Two-year-old steers 20 to .35 

Three -year-old steers 25 to 40 

There are C,.500 horses, 1,500 mules, 18 jacks and 
jennets, 5,500 sheep, 18,000 cattle, and 55,000 hogaHn 
the county. 

FRUIT CULTURE. 

Kext in importance is fruit culture. Both soil 
and climate are particularly adapted to nearly all 
varieties of fruit, and with rare exceptions the yield 
is large. Apples, peaches, plums, iiears, cherries, 
grapes, strawberries, raspberries, etc., are raised 
extensively and yield handsome profits to the 



grower. St. Joseph, Omaha and Lincoln are good 
markets for all small fruits. Captain Wm. Kuu- 
cher, a correspondent of the Smithsonian Institute, 
makes the following statement relative to fruit 
culture in this county. " I have observed during a 
residence of nineteen years, that the peach crop for 
example has never been injured by the frosts of 
spring, although frosts sometimes occur after they 
are in full bloom; and on one occasion, that in the 
spring of 1871, the mercury fell to 26^^ on the 11th ot 
April, after the apple, peach, pear, plum and cherry 
blossoms were out in full; but no such injury fol- 
lowed as would have been the case in a more 
humid climate. Winter apples sold that year for 
fifty to seventy-five cents per bushel. The spring 
winds no doubt account for the aridity of the 
climate." Mr. N. F. Murray, the most extensive 
fruit-grower in the county, makes this statement: 
"I aflfirm that when we take into consideration 
cheapness of good fruit-growing land, the certainty 
of abundant crops, the abundance of soft timber for 
fruit crates, the facilities for shipping, the high price 
of fruit and the durability of trees, that Holt County 
will, for profit to the fruit-grower, equal if not excel 
the far-famed fruit-gTowing regions of Delaware, 
New Jersey, Michigan and Southern Illinois. In 
the last seven years we have had five abundant 
crops, one half crop and one failure. Two acres of 
four-year-old peach trees yielded a net profit of four 
hundred dollars. Forty acres of six-year-old trees 
produced a crop in 1874 which sold for seven thou- 
sand dollars." 

MANUFACTURING. 

The numufacturing interests are conducted by 
competent workmen. They consist of seven wagon 
and buggy shops, one stare factory, one rope factory, 
one cement factory, one for washing machines and 
one tannery. A superior quality of cement is made 
from rock found near the county seat, and though 
the work has been undertaken but recently, it is 
destinetl to become a lucrative business. 

EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES. 

The public school system of the county is 
thoroughly organized, and is in a creditable con- 
dition. There are seventy-three common schools 
and five organized under an act of the Legislature 
for cities, towns and vUlages. Each district is sup- 
plied with a commodious, well arranged school 
house, and the aggregate value of these buildings 
Avill reach $100,000, and the county seat has a school ■ 
building which cost $23,000. The whole number of 
children of school age is 5,421, of whom 100 are 
colored. The permanent school fund is more than 
$70,000, the annual interest of which gives very 
material aid to the public schools. The town of 
Oregon has a Normal School, supported by i)r)vate 
enterprise, whicli does good work in training teach- 
ers for the public schools, and which is well patron- 
ized by students from adjoining counties and States. 
Public sentiment demands higher education. The 
people recognize tlie necessity of teachers being 
educated beyond the subjects contained in the daily 
routine of recitation. Hence most of the teachers 
make thorough preparation before beginning their 
work. Teachers' institutes are held regularly, and 
ideas exchanged, and benefit bestowed and received. 



154 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



CHURCHES. 

The various i-eligious denominations are well rep- 
resented among the people, — comfortable churches 
are of easy access in almost every neighborhood. 
There are thirty-six ministers and thirty churches, 
the aggregate value of which is $53,200. The num- 
ber of church members is 3,522. The churches rep- 
resented are the following : Christian, Presbyterian, 
Methodist Episcopal North, Methodist Episcopal 
South, German Methodist Episcopal, Baptists, Keg- 
ular Baptists, Catholic, Evangelical Association, 
Evangelical Christian, St. John, Cumberland Pres- 



byterian, Union Evangelical Keform, Latter-Day 
Saints, Dunkards, United Brethren, Colored Bap- 
tists. 

FINANCIAL CONDITION. 

No bonds or indebtedness. Holt County is en- 
tirely free from bonded or other indebtedness, 
hence the rate of taxation is low, being only what is 
required to meet the ordinary expenses of county 
and State government. The county, therefore, is 
free from expensive litigation. This fact ought to 
be a strong inducement to immigrants. 



HOWARD COUNTY. 



Howard takes rank among the first settled coun- 
ties of the State, having once been the home of the 
celebrated Daniel Boone, Colonel Cooper, and other 
pioneer settlers of the gi-eat Mississippi Valley. It is 
centrally located, and is bounded on the north by 
Chariton and Randolph Counties, upon the east and 
northeast by Boone, upon the west and south by the 
Missouri River, which separates it from Saline and 
Cooper. It contains over 285,000 acres of land, flve- 
sixths of which are under fence and a large propor- 
tion of it iu a high state of cultivation, containing 
many magnificent country residences and baronial 
estates. 

ITS PEOPLE. 

Howard lias a population of about 20,000, a major- 
ity of whom are natives of the county. They are 
generally a sober, intelligent, industrious, law- 
abiding and prosperous people. Tlio county con- 
tains at this time about 700 inhaiiiii.uts of foreign 
birth, who are in the full enjoyment of all the rights 
of citizenship, and are quiet and enterprising, and 
most every one«of them making monej-, and there- 
fore contented. Some have amassed handsome for- 
tunes. Their every legal right is respected as much 
so as were they " to the manor born." The negi-o 
laborer is fast disappearing, and can scarcely be 
considered an element iu opposition to a good class 
of industrious white labor. 

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 

The lands of Howard County are divided into 
bottom lands and uplands. The bottom lauds, which 
are comprised of those parts of the county which 
lie contiguous to tlie Missouri River, the Moniteau, 
and other streams, are generally level and exceed- 
ingly fertile, producing immense crops of wheat, 
corn and hemp when sown. The soil is simply in- 
exhaustible, and is susceptible of being cultivated 
for a lifetime without perceptible diminution of its 
fertility. The soil of these lands is a deep sandy 
loam, absorbing moisture and giving it out like a 
sponge, so that they are not materially affected by 
drouth. The uplands are high and beautifully 



undulating, with splendid natural drainage. The 
son is warm, quick, and susceptible of the highest 
culture, producing large yields of all the cereals, 
fruits and vegetables known to this latitude. To- 
bacco is one of the staples of the county, much of 
these lands producing a very fine article when skill- 
fully handled, and in some instances yielding 2,000 
pounds per acre. This county, being in proximity 
to a large belt of now wheat -producing country, 
offers to the wheat-grower an inducement rarely 
met elsewhere. 

COMMERCE AND TRANSPORTATION. 

The commercial advantages of Howai'd County 
should challenge the consideration of every one 
desii-ing an advantageous location. The Missouri,- 
Kan'sas & Texas Railway crosses the entire county 
from north to south, jiassing Fayette, the county 
seat, and thence on to Boonville, where it crosses 
the Missouri River on a magnificent bridge. This 
line is doing a lucrative business. Tlie Chicago & 
jUton passes through the county east to west, cross- 
ing the Missouri River at Glasgow, in this county, 
on the great steel bridge — the structure of the age. 
There is also a branch line extending from the city 
of Glasgow, and intercepting the Wabash, St. Louis 
& Pacific at Salisbury. There are not only tvvo 
magnificently equipped trans -continental lines of 
railroad running transversely across this county, 
but her western and southei-n borders are washed 
by fifty miles of the great Missouri River, capable of 
affording cheap and easy transportation for the 
products of an empire. Thus it may be seen that 
this county possesses facilities for transportation 
east and west, north and south, embracing a system 
beyond the power or control of corporation or 
monopoly. 

EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES. 

The entire county is divided into school districts, 
each of which, with but few exceptions, has a good 
comfortable school house, Avhere schools are gen- 
erally sustained from four to ten months in a year, 
at a mere nominal cost to the patrons, the expenses 



Haxj)-Book of Missouri. 



155 



being defrayed by the distribution of the libei-al 
public fund with v.hich tlie county is supplied. 
There are also numerous private and select schools 
conducted by competent and accomplished teachers. 
The county also has four colleges and seminaries. 
Howard College is a seminary of the highest order, 
where JO ung ladies from this and other States re- 
ceive instruction from teachers of eminent ability 
and large experience. This school occupies a fine 
building, beautifully located in the delightful little 
city of Fayette. Xear by it, situated upon a lovely 
plateau, and commanding a view of the city and 
country for miles around, stands Central College. 
This school has a wide and justly won reputation. 
It has a full collegiate faculty. This college is 
liUerally endowed, and a classical education of the 
most advanced tji^e maybe obtained here by j'oung 
men at a trifling cost. Lewis College and Pritchett 
Institute are both admirably located in the healthy 
and picturesque city of GlasgoM', among a people 
proverbial for sobriety, intelligence and liberality. 
In connection with the Pritchett Institute is the 
Morrison Observatory, which is provided with all 
the modern appliances of science, containing the 
second largest astronomical telescope in the United 
St^es. Both of these schools are amply endowed, and 
are taking rank among the first institutions of the day. 
Churches of nearly all orthodox denominations 
are to be found in nearly all parts of the county ; 
they are liberally supported, they have generally 
fine buildings and are led by shepherds careful of 
their flocks. , 

STOCK-RAISING AND GRAZING FACILITIES. 

There is no branch of farming in this county that 
pays lai'ger or sui'er ret#rns than stock-raising and 
grazing. The lands in all parts of the county seem 
peculiarly well adapted to the growth of all the fa- 
vorite and most profitable grasses. Timothy grows 
finch', ijroduces heavy crops of seed and hay, and 
fui-nishes splendid pasture. Clover grows to per- 
fection, and is not spewed out or winter-killed as in 
hard-pan countries, but will live and do well upon 
the same land for years. There is no part of the 
county upon which clover will not catch and do well 
without the use of fertilizei-s. Blue grass, however, 
may be regarded as the stand-by. It is indigenous 
and nearly all the timbered land and woods in the 
county is well set in blue grass. When properly 
cared for it furnishes rich food for stock the entire 
winter ; indeed, much of this county is not surpassed 
by the far famed blue grass regions of Kentucky, and 
these lands can be purchased at a fiftli of what such 
lands are commanding in the States lying farther 
east. For all the necessary requisites for making a 
first-class daiiy country Howard County is not sur- 
passed west of the Alleghany Mountains, and no 
man would be more warmly received in our midst 
than the practical dairyman. 

Sheep husbandry is fast gaining favor with the 
citizens and is paying handsome profits. To the 
flock-master Howard County offers superior induce- 
ments. The naturallj' high and rolling countrj' cov- 
ered with sweet, rich gri-ass, the dry, fine winters in- 
vite the bleating flocks, and ere long many a bell 
that tinkles upon the barren mountain sides of Ten- 
nessee,Virginia and Pennsylvania will make music to 
the gambols of the rejuvenated flocks upon the green 
hill -tops of Howard County. Foot-rot and other 



diseases superinduced by low and poorlj' drained 
lands, are hei-e unknown. Scab, and such cutaneous 
diseases as decimate and destroy the flocks are not 
to be feared. 

WATER SUPPLY. 

This county is comparatively well watered, there 
being but few farms in the county that are not sup- 
plied with clear, jjure, living water. Several streams 
run through the county affording quantities of 
stock water and many well sites. There are also a 
number of mineral springs in the county possessing 
medical properties of superior qualities. Also Salt 
Spring, from which a line article of table salt and 
other salt can be made. 

TIMBER AND COAL. 

Howard County was formerly covered with a 
hea^-y growth of fine timber. Much of this, how- 
ever, has been cleared away to make room for the 
plow, but large quantities still, remain not only a . 
sufficiency for all farm purposes but a large surplus 
that may be used in manufacturing. Among the 
most useful and popular varieties may be mentioned 
sugar tree, white oak, burr oak, hickory, black ash, 
and black walnut. Of this last variety Howard, 
perhaps, contains more than any county in Mis 
souri. Together considered, this county contains 
timber sufficient to supply many manufactories of 
both useful and ornamental articles for years to 
come. Coal crops out in most every locality in the 
county, and can almost be had for the digging. The 
quality is good and indicates coal oil. 

VINE CULTURE. 

Attention is invited to the admirable adaptation 
of much of the county to the growing of this profit- 
able branch of industry. Grapes of the rarest 
species and of the most profitable and prolific kinds 
flourish here and attain to highest perfections. Owing 
to the peculiarity of the face and formation of this 
count}', the blight and other banes of the vineyard 
are practically unknown. There are at present 
thousands of acres of land in this county especially 
well adapted to the vineyard that can be bought for 
three dollars or less per aci-e. These lands are not 
on the wild frontier outside of civilization, but here 
within hearing of the whistle of the steamboat and 
locomotive and almost under the shadow of the 
spires and cupolas of thrifty villages and towns, 
and though the people are generally abstemious, 
yet they sometimes take a little wine for their 
stomach's sake and their few infirmities. 

MANUFACTORIES. 

Howard County has 285,000 acres of fruitful soil, 
with more than $10,000,000 of real solid wealth ; with 
20,000 honest industrious people ; with facilities for 
commerce and transportation that challenge com- 
parison with the best; with water-power and fuel 
sufficient to run a thousand factories ; with every 
needed raw material in unmeasured abundance, 
still it is without a single factory, and to this gi-eat 
field of enterprise all are invited cordially and kind- 
ly to come. To the capitalist seeking a safe invest- 
ment for his money ; to the skilled mechanic seeking 
•a just recompense for his labor, are sent this kindly 
greeting and all will be welcomed with kindness 
and generosity. 



156 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



HOWELL COUNTY. 



Howell County is situated adjoining the State of 
Arkansas, and nearly in thCj center of the State 
of Missouri from east to west. It was organized 
in 1857 from parts of Oregon and Ozark. It is forty 
miles north and south by about twenty-eight east 
and west. 

SURFACE. 

The surface of the county has a general southern 
elope, rolling, with table lands and oak openings. 
Along the streams, the surface is broken, and in the 
eouthern part there are small prairies. The hiUs 
are irregular in their direction and cannot be said 
to lie in ranges ; their elevation is gradual from the 
valleys at the base to their summits. Irregular val- 
leys lie nestled among the hills, varying in size, of 
which Howells, Hutton, South Tork and Spring 
Creek are the principal. Some of these have 
streams of living water, others are dry, except 
springs whose waters run a few rods and disappear 
in the subterraneous passages to meet the light 
again at the head of Spring River in Arkansas. 

THE SOIL AND ITS PRODUCING QUALITIES. 

The soil of the county is varied, and might i)rop- 
erly be classified as follows : 

1. Pine lands with a sandy loam, which occupy 
the most broken part of the county, underlaid by 
the sandstone of the magnesian limestone series. 
These lands produce well in wheat, corn and rye, 
with tame gi-asses. The timber is pine, post, white 
and red oak, black hickory, sassafras and summer 
grapes, and in many of the valleys other trees and 
vines, where lucious black and raspberries aljound. 
This covers large areas in the north and northwest- 
ern part of the county. 

2. White and post oak soil covers a large territoiy 
and appears to be a mixture of the hickory with the 
magnesian limestone. The character of this is 
dark, wai-m and light, and in the valleys it is very 
productive; on the slopes lighter in quality and not 
so productive for the heavier ci-ops; yet all yield 
with jiroper culture good crops of cotton, wheat, 
rye, tobacco and hay. The slopes cannot be ex- 
celled for fruit culture, and tlie finest of fruit both 
in quality and size is here grown. Particularly is 
tliis so with regard to the peach and apple, and we 
cjin safely challenge any of the fruit-growing States 
to produce superior. The subsoil of these lands is 
often richer than the surface and consists of dark- 
red oily clay impregnated with iron, and deep 
plowing makes a vast difference in their productive 
powers. Some of these lands are covered with 
flint and conglomerated roc^k, and in many places 
where these are the soil is the most productive. 

3. The black-jack soil. This is generally the 
poorest of all, and cover the narrow and rocky 
ridges, and has a stunted growth of bla(;k-jack and 
post oak. This soil is dark in color, thin and cold, 
and is underlaid with pale yellow or slate -c,olored 



clay. These lands can be made valuable for small 
grain^ and fi'uit culture, and all furnish excellent 
pasture of wUd grass. 

In the southern part of the county there are tracts 
of land that have yet a different soil peculiarly their 
own. This covers small prairies and Some of the low 
lands adjacent to the streams. It is black, adhesive 
and rich, yet it is considered too wet, without drain- 
ing, to produce first-class crops when the seasons 
are favorable for other lands. The low lands are 
gradually closing in with a tlirifty growth of black 
elm, black hickory, ash, water oak, walnut, syca- 
more and hazel, on the small prairies, and ivithin a 
fe\^ years they will be covered in woodlands. These 
Muds afford the best pastiirage in the county, and 
with proper drainage and cultivation are very pro- 
ductive. 

The soil in the valleys is a compound of the roll- 
ing lands adjacent with decomposed vegetable 
matter, and each season adds new deposits. These 
are the most productive of any for corn, cotton and 
wheat, but for fruit are inferior even to the black- 
jack lands. 

THE CLIMATE. 

The winters are short, generally commencing about 
the 20th of December and remaining mild winter 
weather throughout the remainder of that month, 
January, February and M;u;ch, are varied with an 
occasional northwester lasting a few days at a time. 
In the average winter there are very few days that 
persons cannot work upon their farms with little in- 
convenience from the cold. In the valleys, particu- 
larly in the southern part of the county, the short, 
wild grass remains green all winter. The air is dry 
and contains no malarial swamp poisons to breed 
disease. Pulmonary disease, unless hereditary i« 
Jinknown. 

WATER. 

In parts of the county living water is rather scarce. 
There are, .however, many springs that issue from 
the base of hills that afford the finest of water. The 
water of these springs, after running a short dis- 
tance, sink and leave the valleys destitute of running 
streams. Yet there are many pond.s, (almost every 
section of land contains one or more,) that furnish 
abundance of stock water. Good water can be 
found by digging from fifteen to forty feet. The 
principal streams in the county are Eleven Points, 
with some small ti-ibutaries, in the northern portion 
of the county, Spring Creek in the western, South 
Fork and Myatte in the southern part of the county. 

Twelve miles west of West Plains and sixtecH 
miles northwest of the same place are located the 
Dixon and Siloam Medicinal Springs. Permanc»t 
bath houses and other accommodations have bee» 
erected at both places, and the waters are accred- 
ited with great healing virtues. 
TIMBER. 

Perhaps no county in the State can boast of more 
exteuBivo and excellent pine forests than Howell. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



157 



In fact, in the size and quality of the timber it will 
eompare favorably with any in the United States. 
The largest forests are situated in the northwestern 
portion of the county, also in the central part of the 
northern half of the count y there is fine pine. There 
are many mills in the county, and lumber for build- 
ing purpose and fencing is now offered at one dollar 
and fifteen cents per hundred, delivered. White, 
red and post oak with black-jack aiv} hickory are 
found in abundance for fencing and fuel, except in 
some localities where the annual flres have stunted 
the growth. Water oak, black walnut, cypress, 
red cedar, common elder, red elm, dogwood, hazel 
and burning bush ai-e found in different localities. 

PRODUCTIONS. 

The chief productions of the county are wheat, 
cori», cotton, tobacco and oats. Large numbers of 
cattle and hogs are raised annually for market, and 
are disposed of at remunerative prices to dealers at 
home. 

MARKET FACILITIES. 

Although the county is distant from railroads, yet 
there is at the doors of the farmers a market that 
wiU average with any in the State. The cotton 
country soutli of us in Arkansas where the industry 
of the countiy is employed in raising that staple, 
creates a demand for all the sui-plus corn, wheat 
and bacon at prices often in excess of St. Louis, 
without any trouble to market other than to deliver 
at home. 

BUILDING MATERIAL. 

The county furnishes the best of pine at veiy low 
prices with cotton-rock similar to that of which the 
capitol of the State is built. Brick can be bought at 
about seven dollars per thousand. Nails, sash, 
glass and shingles can be procured at reasonable 
prices. 

SCHOOLS. 

The public schools of the county at the last report 
(1879) of the Commissioner, numbered forty-nine or- 
ganized, in which schools were taught during that 
year. Number of white children in the county be- 
tween six and twenty years of age, 2,257; colored, 
fourteen. Amount of funds received by county from 
the State for the payment of teachers, $2,100; added 
to this the average rate per cent, levied for school 
purposes was fifty cents on the hundred dollars' 
worlh; to this also, must be added the amount of 
flues and the interest on the money accrued from 
the sale of land in each to-miship. The sum total 
makes in the aggregate a respectable fund sacred to 
public schools. There are several private schools in 
the county well attended. Th^e West Plains Acade- 
my and Normal School building, erected within the 
last year by private eutci-prise, is now in successful 
operation, with an eflticient coi-ps of teachers. 

CHURCHES. 

The following denominatipns have organized with- 
in the county: Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, 
Methodist South, Christian and Baptist. There are, 
in all, about forty organized church societies, evenly 



distributed as to locality. Many of these have com- 
fortable houses of worship, and in some neighbor- 
hoods three or four denominations use the same 
house, " dwelling together in brotherly unity." 

WAGES. 

Farm hands I'eceive from $10 to $15 per month with 
board. Carpenters from $1.50 to $2.00 per day. Black- 
smiths $1.50 to $2.00 per day. Day farm-laborers re- 
ceive seventy-five cents per day. There is always 
plenty of work, and there is no excuse for idleness. 

SOCIETY, 

The people are moral and industrious, and there 
are no classes in society. If honest and industrious 
a person is received by all as an equal. Perfect 
freedom in religious and political opinions is al- 
lowed. The blue and the gray in perfect harmony 
stand side by side in the same church and in the 
same political party. 

CHEAP LANDS. 

This county being remote from the railroads the 
lands have not been sought after. Patented lands 
can now be purchased for from fifty cents to one 
dollar and flftv cents an acre. Government lauds 
can be secured under the Homestead Laws, and there 
are still 100,000 acres of such lands in the county. 
The lands belonging to the Agricultural College 
(70,000 acres), by act of the Legislature, are held at 
one dollar and twenty-five cents and two dollars 
per acre. Tliouf^ands of acres of these lauds are of 
the finest quality for farming purposes. Improved 
farms can be bought at from three to t^venty-flve 
dollars per acre. 

TOWNS. 

West Plains contains a;bout 400 inhabitants, three 
general and two drug stores, one steam flouring 
mill, two wagon factories, one cabinet shop, one tin 
and hardware store, one silversmith, two hotels, 
four blacksmith shops, three cari^enter and joiner 
shops, one saddlery, two school buildings, one news- 
paper, two churches, one Masonic hall, one Odd 
Fellows' and one Good Templars' halls. The business 
men are energetic and wide awake. The sale of 
merchandise during the year amounts to several 
hundred thousand dollars, and the lively compe- 
tition of the merchants often bring goods down 
below the regular St. Louis retail market prices. 

Martinsville, sixteen mUes northwest of West 
Plains, at Siloam Springs, is a village of some 300 
inhabitants; has j,wo stores, one drug store, two 
hotels with a steam bathing establishment, and is 
visited by many invalids seeking health iu the 
waters of the springs. 

Hutton Valley City, located eignt^sn milas north, 
contains about 200 inhabitants, is a neat little vUlage 
situated in the famous valley fi-om which it takes its 
name, has two dry goods and one drug store, one 
hotel, one wagon factory, one church,and one school 
house. The adjacent county is rich and prosperous. 
There are country stores at the following post- 
offices: South Fork, Peace Valley and Pottersville. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

For stock-raising no place in th« United States 

can excel this county, the rolling high lunds witk 



158 



' Hand-Book of Missouri. 



the rich acliacent valleys furnish the best of wild 
grass for pasturage nine month in the year. The 
cattle, sheep and hogs have freedom to roam jind 
luxuriate without bounds, and in many of the valleys 
grass remaining green and nutritive duri ng the entire 
■winter. No disease has ever yet afflicted the rattle 
or sheep. Taking the climate, wild grass and the 
high, rolling character of the county, with the low 
price of land and short winters, I know of no coun- 
try that can excel Howell County for profitable 
stock-raising. The hogs (of which thousands are 
annually raised) multiply and fatten with little care. 
Many seasons they are killed " off the mast," and 
make the sweetest of bacon. 



Deer, wild turkey and quail are found at all 
seasons, and at times are very plentiful, and persons 



who are fond of the gun can find enough of each gen- 
erally on their own premises to kill, without violat- 
ing the game laws. Fish of the finest flavor can be 
found in the North Fork (adjacent county). South 
Fork and Eleven Points of Howell f!ounty. 

FINANCES. 

The indebfedness of the county has been reduced 
within the last five years from $23,000 to about $12,000, 
and each year the rate of taxation becomes lower 
from this cause and from the increase of taxable 
property, both real and personal. Many homesteads 
are being "nroved up," and cash entries made 
annually. 

Rate of taxes, 1880, State and county, one dollar 
and twenty-five cents. The rate for public schools 
is left to a vote of each district at the annual greet- 
ing in April. 



IRON COUNTY. 



Iron County is situated about seventy-five miles 
directly south of St. Louis, and about fifty miles 
west of the Mississippi River. It occupies the 
summit of the Ozark Plateau — the waters from the 
surface flowing north, east and south. No part of 
the globe is blessed with a greater abundance of 
pure water. Sparlding and crystal springs and 
streams flow over the land to fertilize it and glad- 
den every creature. 

Big River, Black River and St. Francois River 
have their principal sources within this territory. 
These streams are rapid and afford abundant 
water-power, very little of which is yet utilized. 

HEALTHFULNESS. 

The great elevation of this region, the entire ab- 
sence of stagnant water, and the distance from any 
low or overflowed lands, make it beyond any douljt 
one of the most healthy sections in the Mississippi 
Valley. 

THE SURFACE. 

The general features of the country are decidedly 
undulating — in some places the hills rising to the 
dignity of considerable mountains, interspersed 
with fertile valleys and good ui)land, which yield 
excellent returns to the industrious tillers of the 
soil, in corn, wlieat, oats, rye, barley, potatoes, 
tobacco, sorghum, and every vai-iety of vegetable 
and fruit suited to the climate. 

The country is covered with a forest of valuable 
timber of almost every kind and variety, and 
amongst this is a luxuriant growth of grass, whicli 
makes our region also rank high for grazing and 
stock-raising purposes. 



STOCK-RAISING. 

No portion of the United States offers better in- 
ducements to stock-raisers than Iron County. The 
forest and grass-covered liills embrace fully one- 
half of the count}', which for many years may not 
be fenced and cultivated, thus affording tlie vei-y 
best pasturage free to al' "Wliy need any person go 
to the ijrairies of the Far West to engage in cattle 
and sheep raising, where the wild grasses are no 
better and their stock exposed, with little water, to 
tlie scorching sun in summer, and the cold, bleak 
winds in winter; while here they ai'e protected 
from both with equally as good free range of wild 
grass, in the midst of springs of pure, cold water, 
and so nmch nearer the markets, with tlie St. Louis, 
Iron :Mountain & Southern Railway extending 
through tlie county tor thirty miles, giving direct 
communication with St. Louis and the East, the 
Mississippi at Belmont, and the South with Little 
Rock and Galveston ? 

The winters are open and mild. Sheep often live 
upon tlie range during the whole winter, and seldom 
require feeding more than four to six weeks during 
the entire year. 

In addition to other crops, blue grass, limothy, 
red-top, clover and other grasses are natural pro- 
ducts of the soil and yield largely. 

CHEAPNESS OF LAND. 

Lands, both wild and improved, arc cheaper in this 
region than in any other portion of tlie Union — qual- 
ity and advantages considered. 

Improved farms can be purchased lo-day la South- 
east Missouri, within 150 miles of St. I^ouis, at less 
cost than the wild, open prairie railroad lauds, 500 



Hakd-Book of Missouri. 



loi) 



miles distant out in Kansas and Nebraska. Large 
tracts puitable for grazing pui-poses can be pur- 
chased at but a trifle above Government price. 

FINANCIAL. 

Iron County does not owe a dollar of debt. Has 
money in tlie treasury. Has splendid brick public 
buildings. Taxation for State and county purposes 
is considerably less than one per cent. The public 
schools and society are second to no county west of 
the Atlantic seaboard. 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 

This county is the center of the great iron deposits 
of the State, as vt^ell as the Missouri Granite Works 
and in this way a home market is produced for all 
farm productions, often superior to the city of St. 
Louis. 



A PLEASURE RESORT 

Pleasure and liealth seekers can find no more 
lovely place west of the Alleghany Mountains than 
the Valley of Arcadia. The valley is very beautiful 
and the hills or mountains surrounding it — clothed 
sometimes in a mantle of emerald ; sometimes iu a 
sheen of autumn glory — are picturesque and inex- 
pressibly grand. 

TOWNS. 

Within this valley of a few thousand acres are the 
three busy towns of Ironton, Arcadia and Pilot Knob, 
with three railway depots and telegraph offices ; and 
this, too, Avithin three hours' ride of the great city 
of St. Ix)uis. 



JACKSON COUNTY. 



Jackson County is situated on the soutli side of tlie 
Missouri River and adjoining the State of Kansas. It 
is bounded on the north by Clay and Ray Counties, 
on tlie east by Lafayette and Johnson Counties and 
on the south by Cass County. It is twenty-seven 
miles from east to west and twenty-two miles from 
north to south, and comprises 387,450 acres. 

TOPOGRAPHY. 

The surface of the county is gently undulating, 
except along the streams, and is about equally 
divided between timber and prairie lauds. It is 
unsurpassed in fertility of deep, rich and loamy 
soil, with, abundant streams and never failing 
springs. Tlie Missouri River washes the entire 
northern boundary for a distance of forty miles. 

MINERALS. 

From twenty to thirty inches of bituminous coal is 
found in the eastern part of the county. Building 
stone in gi'eat abundance is found in all parts of the 
county. 

CULTIVATED LANDS AND PRICE OF LAisDS. 

About two-thirds of the area of Jackson County is 
in a high state of cultivation. Lands are worth 
from five to fifty dollars per acre according to qual- 
ity, improvement aud location, and almost any one 
can get land in quantity to suit their means. 

PRODUCTS. 

The principal products are corn, wheat, oats, rye, 
clover, timothy, blue grass, potatoes, cabbage and 
tobacco, cattle, horses, mules, sheep and hogs, and 
all fruit and vegetables common to the latitude. 



PRODUCTS PER ACRE. . 

Corn ,30 to 60 bushels per acre 

Wheat 15 to 40 " " 

Oats 30to50 " " 

Rye 20 to 30 " " 

Clover IJ to 2i tons " 

Timoihy IJ to 2^ " " 

Potatoes 150 to 300 bushels " 

FINE STOCK AND HERDS. 

Tlie stock of Jackson County is of a high grade. 
By the use of thorouglibred animals the grade has 
been vastly improved within the last few years. 

Within this county are fourteen herds of pure bred 
short-horn cattle, numerous fine bred horses and 
jacks, and sevei-al large herds of pure bred Merinos, 
Cotswold and Southdown sheep. 

EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS INTERESTS. 

There is in Jackson County at present one hun- 
dred and seven school districts, organized and in 
full operation, besides those organized under the 
general law relating to cities and towns, in which 
are included those of Kansas City, Independence, 
Westport, and Lee's Summit. The system of puljlic 
schools is maintained in three ways. First, by State 
aid ; second, Ijy county aid ; and third, by taxation. 
Under tlie constitution of the State of Missouri one- 
fourth of all the State revenue is set apart yearly 
for distribution among all the schools; also the in- 
terest on all funds are set apart to the counties, in 
the way of fines, swamp land, etc., which go to swell 
the public school fund. Tliere is now in Jackson 
County about twenty-three thousand children of 
school age. 



160 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



Almost all denominations of Christian people are 
represented in the county, anal the numerous 
churches seen in all parts of tlie county attest that 
there is a large pop>ulatiou of church-going people. 

SOCIETY. 

The society of Jackson County will compare fa- 
vorably with any county in tlie United States;. Here 
one may find humanity in all grades, from tlie high- 
est to lowest, and a person has only to seek his 
level, and he will be sure to find it. Peace and good 
order abound, and nowhere is the criminal law 
more justly or promptly enforced. 

TAXATION. 

TUie rate of taxation ranges from .fl.OO to |1.65 on 
the $100 valuation, according to the levies made by 
each school district for the support of its schools. 

RAILROADS. 

Jackson County has superb railroad facilities, hav- 
ing two roads that run through the county the entire 
distance from east to west and one from the north- 
west to southeast, besides ten others coming into 
Kansas City fi-om all directions, thus furnishing a 
ready and quick maAet for everything a man can 
raise from a joound of wheat straw to a car-load of 
cattle. 



WAGES. 

Bricklayers, $2.50 to $3.00 per day. Carpenters, $3.00 
to $3.00 per day. Common laborers, $1.50 per day. 
Teamsters, $3.00 per day. Farm hands, $15.00 to $25.00 
per month, including board. Servant girls, $1.50 to 
$4.00 per week, with board. Plenty of work can be 
obtained bj' parties desiring to work. 

MARKETS. 

Kansas City, the metropolis of this county, with a 
present population of over 60,000 inhabitants, and 
inci-easing at a wonderful rate, affoi-ds a bountiful 
market for every article the farmer can produce. 
(See description elsewhere.) 

Independence, with a population of 3,000 t© 4,000 
inhabitants, furnishes a good local market. 

The three railroads, the Missouri Pacitic, Chicago 
& Alton, and the Kansas Citj' & Eastern Railway 
Companies, afford additional advantages for mar- 
keting facilities. 

Lee's Summit, a thriving town of 1,000 inhabitants, 
is located on the line of the Missouri Pacific Railway 
twenty-four miles southeast of Kansas Citj', and is 
in the center of a magnificent farming country. It 
is a good shipping point for cattle, grain, etc. ; in 
fact has not a superior as a shipping point between 
Kansas Citv and St. Louis. 



JASPER COUNTY. 



Jasper County comprises that part of southwest 
Missouri bordering on Kansas, cornering with the 
Indian Territory and the third county north of the 
Arkansas State line ; was organized in the year 1840, 
has an area of 637J square miles, and contains 
419,319.21 acres of land. Spring River divides the 
county into two natural divisions : north of the river 
agriculture and stock-raising predominate; south 
of the river, mining predominates. 

The mines of Jasper County are confined to this 
southern division, except the coal mines in the 
northwestern part. 

All the northern division, and the larger portion 
of the sfiuthern division, are susceptible of a high 
state of cultivalion. The northern division is 
mostly prairie; the southern division is Lirs^cly tim- 
bered. 

TIMBERED LANDS 

comprise about one-fourth the area of the county. 
The varieties comprise all those usually found in 
this latitude, the principal of which are the differ- 
ent kinds of oak, hickory, walnut, ash, elm, maple, 
mulberry, cherry, sycamore, birch and red-bud. 

The principal nut and wild fruit producing trees 
are hickory, oak, walnut, i)ecan, chincapin, cherry, 
mulberry, persimmon, pawpaw, ])luin, liaw and 
hazel. These are dropped every year, and help 
to funiish tlie mast which is so abundant. 



COAL 

of good qualit.v is mined in the northwestern and 
western parts of the county, and is sold and deliv- 
ered in the cities at from ten to twelve and a half 
cents per busfhel. It is also brought here by railroad 
a distance of from ten to twenty-five miles, and sold 
at the same price. Cheap fuel is thus permanently 
assured, timber l)eing plenty aud increasing in 
abundance towards the south of Jasper County ; 
good solid cord -wood is delivered here at two dol- 
lars and fifty cents per cord. 

STONE AND BUILDING MATERIAL 

Limestone is the bed-rock of Jasper County, gen- 
erally lying deep, but cropping out from some of the 
ravines and from the ."^ides of some of the bluffs. 
This limestone makes a good quality of lime. Sand- 
stone, or freestone, quarries are numerous in the 
northwest corner of the county. Hornstone is 
found in places in the top soil ; is of a very light, 
porous character, and has many valuable proper- 
ties. These varieties of stone furnish excellent 
building material. 

THE SOILS 

of .lasper County comprise bottom, a rich, deep, al- 
luvial soil; second bottom, a rich, deep, alluvial. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



161 



bordering on the red or mulatto soil; upland soil, 
which grades through all shades of black, grey and 
red. The latter is the celebrated mulatto soil for 
which Southwest Missouri is particularly noted, and 
is so highly prized wherever known. 

The soils are underlaid with what is knowa as the 
river belt, containing the porous hornstone, rich in 
oxide of iron, oxide of calcium, phosphorus and 
animal and vegetable deposits, which together act 
on the soil as perpetual fertilizers. This red sub- 
soil, brought from a depth of twenty or thirty feet, 
will sjtrout vegetation like a hot-bed. 

The soils of .Jasper County are noted as favorable 
to the production of every staple grown in the 
Northern States, as well as some of the leading 
productions of the Southern States, such as cotton, 
tobacco, peanuts, barley, hemp, flax, castor beans 
and field peas. 

Good water, clear, i)ure and healthful, is found 
everj-Nvhere in Jasper County. It is easily obtained 
by digging at from fifteen to thirty feet. 

Excellent springs and streams of clear, pure 
water are well distributed over the county and 
make up the water courses which flow from east 
westerl.y for some distance nearly parallel with each 
other until received into tlie main central artery of 
tlie county. 

Spring ]{iver, a beautiful, clear, rapid stream of 
spring water, not subject to overflow, and capable 
of operating mills and factories of the largest ma- 
chinery. 

THE CLIMATE 

is mild, winters short, autumns long and pleasant, 
summers long, but not so hot as in the Northern 
.States. The altitude, over 1,100 feet above sea level , 
gives a briglit, clear atmosphere and cool pleasant 
nights. 

Tiie climate and the water are favorable to good 
health, especially as there are no ponds, sloughs, 
swamps, nor sluggish streams to produce miasma 
and malaria, or if those poisons do generate, thej' 
are believed to be absorbed by the porous hornstone 
and chemically resolved or destroyed. Thus, a 
residence on a rooky knoll is always foiind to be 
healthful. A foggy morning is extremely rare. 

THE PRODUCTIONS 

of Jasper County comprise a great variety of articles. 
The leading staples in the order of tlieir importance 
are about as follows: INOnerals, live stock, corn, 
winter wheat, oats, h.ay, beef, pork, fruits, potatoes, 
wool, vegetables, flax, millet, broom corn, beans, 
sorghum, rye, barley, tobacco, cotton and peanuts. 

Garden jiroductions comprise an unusual va- 
riety of vegetables of good qualities, and continue 
through a long season, often getting two crops from 
tlie same ground in one season. 

Fruits of all kinds do well, the wood is healthy, 
makes rapid growth and bears early. Most of the 
small fruits are indigenous to this latitude, and are 
very large and excellent. Orchards are numerous, 
and much attention is given to fruit culture. The.v 
ripen in regul.ar gradation, each variety lapping 
over the preceding one in about the following oi-der : 
Strawberries and gooseberries, April 20; raspberries 
and currants. May 15; cherries, May 20; peaches, 
June 15, continuing until the last of November — 



the "Amsden June" originated in Jasper County 
and has ripened there May 20; apricots and nec- 
tarines in June ; apples and pears June 10 and 15 
and continue until winter. 

Winter wheat is an important staple ; there were 
more than half a million bushels raised in Jasper 
County in the year 1879, and it is estimated that 
the yield of 1880 will overreach three -fourths of a 
million. This estimate is based on an average of 
thirteen bushels per acre. The work of one thrashei: 
one season was 2,162 acres of wheat, that averaged 
eighteen and one-half bushels per acre. Some 
fields averaged forty bushels per acre. 

Corn is a leading staple ; two and one -half million 
bushels per annum is the average crop of Jasi)er 
County. It averages forty bushels per acre. 

In a contest for a premium ofl'ered for the best 
five acres of corn in Jasper County, twelve com- 
petitors ranged from seventy to one hundred 
and fifteen Ijushels per acre, averaging ninety-two 
and one -half bushels per acre on the whole sixty 
acres entered for the contest. 

LIVE STOCK 

of all kinds do well in Jasper County. The i-aisingof 
cattle, hogs, horses and sheep is an important and 
profitable business, made so by a combination of 
circumstances rarely met with— plenty of good 
water, rich and succulent grass that comes early 
and does not dry up and spoil until very late in the 
winter, sometimes furnishing sustenance enough to 
keep stock alive all winter. The feeding season i? 
short, often lasting but two or three months. 
Abundance of mast for hogs, rolling, grassy knoll?, 
for sheep, and a healthy atmosphere for all. 

Dairying has proved ver}' successful, and is rap- 
idly increasing in importance. This is closely con- 
nected with two cheese factories, which are now 
in siTCcessful operation. 

As sheep are easily raised wool is an important 
and lucrative ]n-oduct. 

FISH AND GAME • 

are large and plenty in the clear streams oi Jasper 
County. There are many varieties, the most im- 
portant of which are bass, catfish, pickerel, perch, 
redhorse and suckers. 

Considerable attention has been given to fish cul- 
ture by the Fish xVssociation of Jasper County, and 
the streams are becoming well stocked with salmon 
and trout. 

Small game is very abundant, such as the prairie 
pheasant, quail, squirrels, rabbits, and a numberless 
variety of birds. The singing birds, such as the 
mocking bird, red bird, thrush and robin, are very 
numerous in the forests, and often make night a» 
well as day melodious with their songs. 

BEE CULTURE 

takes high rank in Jasper County, and many persons 
have given it considerable attention and study with 
pecuniary pi'ofit. 

MINES AND MINING. 

There was some mining done in a rude way before 
the late war, but it was not until 1S72 and 1873 that 
the great discoveries Avere made which led to their 



1()2 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



present importance. The southern, and especially 
the soiith-vvestern, part of Jasper County contains 
apparently inexhaustible mines of lead and zinc ore ; 
these mines extend into Newton County, and a few 
miles over the line into Kansas. This mineral dis- 
trict, with the city of Joplin as its center, is very 
rich and imi)ortant, as shown by statistical reports. 
These reports show that for several years past the 
State of Missouri has furnished more than one -half 
of the lead production of the United States, and for 
the last few years this mineral district has furnished 
more than one -half of the lead production of the 
State of Missouri, and three-fourths of all the zinc 
manufactured in the United States. 

This mineral district is heavily timbered. It is 
well watered by Spring River, which incloses it on 
the north and west, and tributaries. Center Creek, 
Turkey Creek, Short Creek, and Shoal Creek, which, 
running west, course its noi-th, middle and south 
portions. Of these more ftnportant confluents are 
numei-oufi lesser inlets, and on their inclines and in' 
their valleys, as on Joplin and Lone Elm, are the 
productive mineral fields. 

This district averages nearly 1,000,000 pounds of 
lead ore per week and 1,250,000 pounds of zinc ore 
per week. 

MARKETS AND EXPORTS. 

The large mining population of Jasper County 
must depend upon the farmer and stock-grower for 
subsistence, thus greatly increasing the home 
market. 

The surplus cattle, wlieat, coi-n, wool, and pork,, 
is mostly sent north and east, and is governed by 
St. Louis prices. Surplus flour mostly goes west 
and south, Jasper County brands commanding high- 
est prices. A few car loads per week are sent to 
Boston and Livei-pool. 

Large herds of cattle are imported every autumn 
from the plains of Texas, the Indian Territory, and 
the canebrakes of Arkansas, to fatten upon the sur- 
plus grain of Jasper County during the winter, and 
shipped north and east in the spring and summer. 

Surplus fruits are mostly shipped west and south, 
except early peaches, which are mostly sent north. 

Lead ore is smelted at home and the pig lead 
shipped north and east. 

Zinc ore is shipped in its natural state to the 
smelting Avorks at the coal fields near Joplin and to 
St. Louib and Illinois. 

The exact average of the shipments of Jasper 
County in-oducts could not be obtained. But it is 
known that for two or three months two hundred 
and fifty cars per month of minerals, grain and 
stock are shipped from Jasper County over one 
railroad alone. 

In October, 1879, there accumulated in Carthage 
alone 35,000 biisliels of wheat, more than the rail- 
road company were then able to f urnisli cars to ship 
away, although shipping to their utmost capacity. 

THE RAILROAD FACILITIES 

of Jasper County arc as follows: The St. Louis & 
San Francisco Railway enters the county at the 
southeast corner, runs fifteen miles northwesterly 
to Carthage, the county seat, thence westward 
througli the county and throtigh the center of the 
southern tier of counties of Kansas and will soon be 



the grand through trunk line connecting Si, Louis 
Avith San Francisco. At Oronogo, a niuuing town, 
nine miles west of Carthage, this railroad ser .- a 
branch a distance of eight miles soutli to >J0T)iin. 
passing through Webb City and forming the outlet 
for the center of the great mineral district of Jasper 
County. The main line of this railroad crosses 
the Kansas CUty, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad, for- 
merly known as Joy's road, at Columbus, Kansas ; 
also the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad at 
Oswego, and the Kansas City, Lawrence & .Southern 
at CherrvA'ale, Kansas, thus bringiug.Jasper County 
in connection with St. Louis and Chicago in two 
directions. 

The Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad have 
recently extended their former southern terminus 
at Baxter Springs eastwardly, entering Jasper 
County at the southwest corner, and makingpresent 
terminus at Joplin, proposing to continue on their 
surveyed line northeasterly as far as C'arthage. 

The Joplin Railroad, now under control of the 
St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company, runs 
from Joplin northerly, at a distance of seven miles, 
crossing the main line of the latter and continuing 
on northerly it taps the immense coal fields near 
the northwestern corner of Jasper County, inter- 
•secting the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad 
at Girard, Kansas. 

THE MANUFACTORIES 

of Jasper County are constantly increasing, and at- 
tracting more attention, and take high rank as an 
important feature. The numerous smelting fur- 
naces open the way for various kinds of factories, 
plenty of good water and water-power, cheap and 
abundant fuel, both wood and coal, for steam- 
power, and a great variety of materials altogether 
insure success to the manufacturer. .Jasper County 
has now twenty-five factories of various kinds, be- 
sides the smelting furnaces above mentioned, and 
seventeen flour and saw mills all in successful 
operation. The majority of them are operated by 
water-power. 

POPULATION AND TAX VALUES. 

The first settlement within the present limits of 
Jasper County was made in the ye^r 1833. In the 
year 1860 the population had reached 6,883, accx)rd- 
ing to the United States census. During the late 
war, being on the border, the county was almost en- 
tirely depopulated, houses and fences burned, or- 
chards ruined, and nothing but chimneys marked 
where the towns once stood. 

Immediately upon the close of the war she began 
a repopulation which, with her wealth, rapidly in- 
creased, as shown by the following tabular state- 
ment taken from the Assessor's books: 



u 
OS 

o 

'rH 


. i 




6 


o 

.a 


DO 

be 

o 
K 


Tota,! 
Valuat'n. 


£5 


1866. 


121 


31 


148 


138 


478 


,?1, 256,735 


SCO 


1870. 


5,708 


674 


11,708 


10,217 


14,777 


4,177,446 


14,968 


1880. 


9,408 


2,360 


26,775 


13,436 


44,402 


5,373,875[ 40,000 



The populatiop of 1870 is taken from the United 
States census ; 1866 and 1880 are estimated. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



163 



The rate of taxation on each one hiindred dollars 
of assessed valuation is, for all State and county 
purposes, only ninety cents. The permanent 

PUBLIC SCHOOL FUND 

of Jasper County is f 250,000, the largest of any county 
in the State. This fund is in charge of the county 
court and is a principal, which is required to be kept 
on ten per cent, interest, and the interest used only 
for paying teachers' salaries. 

Jasper County now stands the third in rank in the 
State school fund apportionment, receiving this year 
$S,.377.80. All this helps to make the 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

of Jasper County a very valuable feature. The 
County Gomrais8ioner of Public Schools furnished 
the following items : 

"Jasper is the only county in the State which em- 
ploys the whole time of the County School Commis- 
sioner. When all the public schools are in session 
there are 150 teachers employed, fifty of whom are 
engaged in the graded scliools ; their average salary 
is for gentlemen $45.50, and for ladies $38.80 per 
month. The graded schools, and many of the dis- 
trict schools, are kept open nine months during the 
year. There are ]1'2 scliool houses in the county 
which, with other school property, are valued at 
.fl56,000. The number of children in the county oi" 
school age is 11,662." 

There are a number of private schools in the 
county. 

THE COUNTY FINANCES 

of Jasper are in excellent condition. She is free 
from county indebtedness, and has so few out- 
standing warrants that they are worth ninety-eight 
cents on the dollar. She is divided into fifteen 
municipal townships, and on three of these town- 
ships there is a small railroad debt. Besides several 
railroad bridges, Jasper County has five large 
county bridges that have a span of aboiit one 
hundred feet eacii ; two of them are ii-on bridges. 
There are a number Of smaller bridges, and excel- 
lent natural roads. 

THE CHURC-HES 

of Jasper County, as well as her schools, are the 
pride of her people. There ai-e over one hundred 
cliurch organizations in tlie county, and forty-four 
clmrch buildings. 

THE SECRET ORDERS 

of Jasper County number at least thirty, the prin- 
cipal of which are as follows: Masonic Lodges, 
seven; Royal Arch Chapter, two; Commandery 
Knights Templar, one ; Eastern Star, one ; Ancient 
Order of United Workmen, three; Odd Fellows, 
seven; Encampments, two; Knights of Pythias, 
two ; Good Templars, three, and Murphy Temper- 
ance Societies, eleven. 

IMMIGRATION — NEWSPAPERS. 

Slie also has an immigration society, organized in 
1873, incoi-porated according to the State laws, and 
has done much effective work in publishipg papers, 
pamphlets, maps, etc., to induce immigration. 



There are five daily and six weekly newspapers 
published in Jasper County. Two of the dailies and 
two of the weeklies are Ifepublican in politics ; Itwo 
of the dailies and three of the weeklies are Demo- 
cratic, and one weekly is Greenback and Labor 
Reform. 

CITIP;S AND TOWNS. 

Jasper County has two incorporated cities, Car- 
thage and Joplin. 

Cartilage, tlie county seat, is in the geographical 
center of the county, has a population of 6,000, is 
well built, healthy, beautifully situated on the hills 
of the south bluff of Spring River, on the St. Louis 
& San Francisco Railway, has a forest iiark, shady 
groves and walks, fine suburban residences, is 
lighted with gas and is rapidlj' becoming a manu- 
facturing center. 

Her woolen factory consumes 165,000 pounds of 
wool per annum. 

She has also three carriage factories, two furniture 
factories, a plow factory, a large foundry and 
machine shop, a soda factory, three flouring mills — 
one with a capacitj' of two hundred barrels of flour 
lier day — two breweries, four wagon shops, many 
other shops, a number of small factories of various 
kinds and many business houses of all kinds, 
three weekly and two daily newspapers, three 
hotels and ten churches. 

Tlie public school building is a fine tliree- story 
l>rick, mansard slate roof, situated in tlie center 
of a square block of four acres, well set in shade 
trees, and located in the center of the city. The 
building alone cost $35,000. 

The school is graded, takes a systematic course, 
has a graduating class every year, and is governed 
bjf a j)rincipal and fourteen assistant teacliers. 

The number of school children in Carthage is 
1,499. 

Carthage has ward schools and two private 
scho(^s. 

The Carthage Public Library contains 1,000 vol- 
umes and own a comniodioiis liuildiug and reading 
room. 

The Pleasant Valley Zinc Mines near Carthage 
are rapidly gaining notoriety. A zinc smelting fur- 
nace and rolling mill is contemplated. These mines 
have been averaging 100,000 lbs. of zinc ore pe • 
month, and as the new crushing mill is now abou 
completed they will double tlieir capacity. 

Joplin, " the Wonder of tlie West," the outgrowth 
of the rich mines of Jasper County, has suddenly 
leajjed into rank as the fourth city in the State of 
Missouri, having a population of at least 11,000. 
The number of school children is 2,800. 

Joplin is in the southwestern part of Jasper 
County, and is the center of the richest lead region 
in the world. It contains twenty-five Scotch or 
blasteye furnaces, one flint shire hearth, and four 
slag eyes for smelting lead ore, with a capacity of 
200,000 pounds per day. 

The city has three railroads, fine graded and maca- 
damized sU-eets, is lighted with gas, has three com- 
modious school houses, with graded schools, six 
churches, eight hotels — one a fine brick structnrc, 
the best in the southwest ; a white lead factory, new 
process, two foundries and machine shops, a car- 
riage and wagon factory, and a large number of 



164 



Haxd-Book of ^Iissouni. 



other factories, shops and business liouses of var- 
fous kinds, and two daily and two weeldy news- 
papers. * 

AVebb City and Centerville, two mining towns 
grown together, is an outgrowtli of more recent 
mineral discoveries and has a population of about I 
4,000. It is in the midst of a rich mining district 
about five miles from Joplin, on the Joplin Branch 
of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway. 

The zinc mines of 'Webb City and Centerville are 
assuming large proportions, and they are operating 
a large zinc crusher and several small crushers, 
besides the lead smelting furnaces. It has a good 
brick school building and a weekly nevrspapcr. 
Webb City is about three miles from Oswego, a town 
of 1,'JOO inhabitants, which, under the name of 
Minersville, is known as the oldest mining town in 
Jasper County. It is on the main line of the St. 
Louis & San Francisco Railway and at the point 
■where the Joplin Branch leaves the main line. 
Oswego has an ingeniously constructed zinc and 
lead crusher. 

There are many small mining towns and other 
towns with post-offices, stores, shops, etc., located 
at various points in every part of Jasper County. 
The most important are Sarcoxie, Avilla, Cham- 



bersville, Jasjjer, I'reslon, .Modoc, Upolis, Georgia 
City, Galesburg, Smithtield, Carl Junction, Alba, 
Leadville, Scotland, Mossville and Bowers' Mills, 
containing from 50 to 500 inhabitants each. 

PRICES OF LANDS. 

v 
There are now in Jasper County 20,000 acres of 
mineral lands undeveloped, upon which there are 
constantly new discoveries of ore, and over 200,000 
acres of unimproved lands mobtly of good quality 
and susceptible of a high state of cultivation and 
tipon which a great numlior of people can secure 
healthy and prosperous homes or paying mines, at 
prices ranging from five to ten dollars per acre. 
Good farms, with good to medium and cheap im- 
provements, can be had at prices from twelve and 
one-half to twenty-five dollars per acre. 

IN CONCLUSION. 

It will thus be seen that Jasper County can sus- 
tain an agricultural population three times as large 
as she now has, and a mining and manufacturing 
population fifty times as large, or probably without 
limit. 



JEFFERSON COUNTY 



This county is bounded on the east, for a distance 
of twenty-three miles, by the Mississippi River; 
on the north, for twenty-four miles, by tlie 
Meramec River, and for a distance of twelve 
miles by the County of St. .Louis; on the west 
by Franklin and "Washington Counties, for a 
distance of twenty-four miles, and by Big River, 
for a distance of ten miles; and on the south 
by St. Francois County, for a distance of eleven 
.liles, and by Ste. Genevieve County, for a 
listance of nine miles. A spur of the Ozark range 
jf mountains runs diagonally through the county 
rom tlie south line to the northeast corner on the 
jleramec River, from which point there is a contin- 
uous ridge to the southwest corner of the State, 
across which no water runs. The spur of these 
mountains Ijnng in Jefferson County rises to a 
lieight of about five hundred feet above the Missis- 
sippi River. This constitutes the main ridge of the 
county, bisects it and divides its water courses. On 
the east the water flows in smaller .streams directly 
into the Mississippi River, and on the west into Big 
River. Between these streams there are high 
ridges varying in altitude above the Mississii)pi 
River from two to four hundred feet. The greatest 
length of the county from north to south is about 
tliirty-six miles and its greatest breadth is about 
iwenty-four miles. The county contains 404,000 
acres of land. 



SOILS. 

It is estimated that about three-fourths of Jeffer- 
son County is arable land, the balance being so 
broken or rocky that it is unfit for cultivation, but 
produces abundance of pasture grasses, and espe- 
cially blue gi-ass. The ridges of high lands lying 
between the water courses named, extend in width 
from a few yards to miles, and the soil at tlie surface 
is a light sandy lotyn, with a deep subsoil of clay 
intermixed with sand, underlaid, by magnesian 
limestone at a depth of fifteen to twenty feet. The 
valleys or low lands lying along the streams named, 
and other smaller streams, have a very deep l)lack 
loam, which is practicably inexhaustible by tillage. 

PRODUCTS OF THE SOIL. 

"Wheat, oats, corn, hay, clover, Irish and sweet 
potatoes, tobacco, broom corn, and sorghum, are 
the chief iiroductions of the county. The ridges are 
deemed the best wheat land and the valleys the 
best corn land. The average yield of wheat is 
fifteen bushels and of corn about thirty btishels per 
aci-e, thougli by careful cultivation the yield of corn 
often reaches seventy-five busheliS per acre, and of 
wheat thirty bushels and in some instances over 
forty, reaches, apples, grapes, strawberries, goose- 
berries, blackberries, raspberi'ies and currants, are 
produced in great abundance for home consumption 
and market. The hill lands are peculiarly well 
adapted fo tlie production of all kinds of fruit. 



Hand-Book of jMissouei. 



165 



LIVE STOCK. 

Farmers engaged in the biTsiness have made the 
raising of stock very profitable here. In the past the 
most attention has been given to the raising of 
horses, mules, cattle, hogs and sheep, the latter 
however to a limited e.Kteut. The amount of pas- 
lure lands in the county which can be had at ex- 
tremely low figures makes the county especially 
desirable for raisers of sheep and dairy cattle. 
I'.utter-making has been tested thoroughly and has 
])roved very remunerative. There are several ex- 
tensive dairies in the county for the manufacture of 
butter, but strange to say not yet a single cheese 
factory, or at least none of any note has been estab- 
lished. The surface being broken by hills and val- 
leys, numerous flue, cold springs are to be found in 
evei-y portion of the county, furnishing hundreds of 
choice situations for dairies. Some of the springs 
affoi-d water enough to run grist and saw mills, and 
hence fisheries for the raising of food fish could be 
made with but little cost to yield a handsome profit. 

MINERALS. 

Lead and zinc ore are the only metals yet mined 
in paying quantities. There are, however, large de- 
posits of hematite iron ore and sulphur. The Valle 
Mines and the mines in the vicinity of Frumet have 
been worked for over fifty years, and have yielded, 
and are still yielding, vast quantities of lead and 
zinc ore. These mines arc of great extent, and lie 
on Big River and the headwaters of the Joachim. 
The Sandy Mines, on Sandy Creek, have also yielded 
and are still yielding much lead ore. With all lead 
deposits is found the bald tiff, or barytes, in paj'ing 
quantities. Indeed, it is claimed by pi-actical miners 
and geologists, that the lai-gest portion of the county 
has all the indications of lead. The lead ore has 
been smelted at home, but the zinc has hitherto been 
shipped to the Carondelet furnaces for reduction. 
There is also here a white clay, known as ball clay, 
in large quantities, said to be, in one place at least 
(on Belew's Creek) , practically inexhaustible. This 
clay is now being mined. and shipped to Pittsburgh, 
Penn., to be manufactured into queensware and 
other articles for use. No other clay is found, ex- 
cept a most excellent brick clay, and that is found 
in iinlimited supplj'. 

Limestone of the best quality is found in abund- 
ance in all parts of the county. This is used profit- 
ably for making lime and for building purposes. In 
the vicinity of De Soto, which is forty miles from St. 
Louis, is what is called De Soto stone, thus named 
because found nowhere else but at that point. This 
stone is capable of fine polish, and is extensively 
used in the " finish " of buildings, much having been 
shipped to be used in St. Louis and elsewhere. 

MANUFACTORIES. 

There are six steam and six Avater flouring mills 
in the county. These mills grind a lai-ge portion of 
the wheat raised in the county, thus giving a home 
market for that staple. Within the last decade the 
Crystal Plate Glass Company has erected extensive 
works at the mouth of the Plattin for the manufac- 
ture of plate glass. In the vicinity of these works is 
an inexhaustible sujijily of wliite sand iind lime- 



stone for the manufacture of all kinds of glassware. 
This company has gone to a cost of many hundreds 
of thousands of dollars, "hnd the enterprise prom- 
ises at no distant day to become one of the most ex- 
tensive and profitable glass manufactories in the 
world. A town of 1,500 inhabitants has sprung up 
since the work begun, and nearlj' live hundred 
hands are employed liy the company. Sand in large 
quantities suitable for the manufacture of glass is 
found on the Joachim and other ijlaces in the 
county. The machine shops of the St. Louis, Iron 
Mountain & Southern Railway Company ai'e lo- 
cated in De Soto, Jefferson County. These shops 
cost over a hundred thousand d(jllars, and give em- 
ployment to many hands. At Windsor Harbor is 
located an iron foundry, which gives employment 
to i)robabIy over two hundred hands. The works 
cost over seventy-five thousand dollars, and at 
them are manufactured wrought iron for the trade. 
In these works charcoal is used, which enables the 
land owners within a radius of ten miles to utilize 
their timber by making coal. ' The fall in the various 
streams in the county and the quantity of water 
afford hundreds of most excellent sites for water- 
power manufactures, and timber is so abundant 
steam-power can be used with profit. Woolen and 
cotton mills and factories for the manufacture of 
plows, wagons, barrels, harrows and all kinds of 
agricultural implements could be established, here 
and made to pay good dividends. Some of the 
poorest lands for agriculture in the county have a 
heavy growth of white oak timber suitable for all 
wood manufactures, and these lands can be bought 
at merely nominal figures. The timber consists 
chiefly o;^ white, post, black and burr oak, black and 
white walnut, the hard and soft maple, sycamore, 
hickory, ash, linden and elm, and these varieties of 
timber are found in large quantities, so that the 
manufacture of wood into articles for ti-ade, with 
capital and skilled labor could be made an exten- 
sive and paying industry here. 

MEDICINAL SPRINGS. 

There are two sulphur springs in the county — one 
at Kimniswick and one at Sulphur Springs— the 
curative powers of which are said to be as good as 
any in the world. There is now organized a com- 
pany known as JMontesano Springs Company, which 
will soon erect buildings at the springs at Kimms- 
wick, and will make that place a health resort. 

Owing to the elevated situation of the county it is 
one of the healthiest places to be found anywhere. 
It is far enough north to be out of the reach of the 
pestilential and malarial fevers prevalent further 
south, and it is far enough south to be out of the 
extreme cold prevalent further north. 

RELIGIOUS MATTERS. 

Perfect freedom of thought and action in religious 
matters is^o be found in its highest and truest de- 
velopment in Jefferson County. Evei-y neighbor- 
hood has a house of worship, and has its church 
organizations and Sabbath -schools. The prevailing 
religious denominations iu the county are Baptist, 
Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Epis- 
copalian, Christian and United Brethren, and their 
respective communicants are iii numbers about in 
tlie order named, the Baptist being the largest. 



1G6 



Hand-Book or Missouri. 



EDUCATIONAL. 

There are in the county seventy-seven good sub- 
stantial public school houses, all new or nearly new, 
having been built in the last few years. The per- 
manent school fund of the county and townships, 
all of Miiich is now loaned at ten per cent, com- 
pound interest, the interest alone being usable, is 
$41,770.60. For tlic year 1879 there was expended 
the sum of .pi,.i'29.0Cin tlic education of the children 
in the piiblic schools. Every child— black as Avell 
as \\hite— in the county is afforded the means of 
education at the public expense. 

DKBT AND T.\XATION. 

The bonded debt of the county at this time is 
about $95,000, and this is the remnant of the debt 
that was created in the construction of gravel roads 
in the county, of which about fifty-live miles 
are completed. The people have kept faith with 
their creditors, and have faithfully paid their debts 
as they matured. Tlie property in the county was 
for 1879 assessed at $'2,9o.3,57o, and the rate of taxa- 
tion for that year was .$2.0.5 on the $100 valuation for 
aU pniiioses, including State, county and school. It 
will be aboiit the same for this year. With this 
rate of taxation, however, the county is enabled to 
pay every year from $12,000 to $15,000 of the out- 
standing bonds as they mature, besides the annual 
interest cui the whole debt. 

COUNTY KOADS. 

There are two excellent gravel roads extending 
from the city of St. Louis nearly througli the 
county— one by the way of Lemay Ferry, and the 
Hillsboro to De Soto ; and the other by the way of 
Feuton and House's Springs up. the valley of Big 
River to Morse's Mills. The Iron Mountain Riiil- 
way and these two rock roads run parallel with 
each other from St. Louis through this county at 
about the distance from each other of five miles. 
The northern border of the county is less than ten 
miles from South St. Louis, and within lifteen miles 
of tlie co\irt house in St. Louis. Farmers take 
their wheat, pork, potatoes, peaches, apples and 
even cord wood and charcoal to St. Louis in their 
wagons and bring back loads of merchandise and 
otlier articles for the country mei-chants and tlie 
people, and thus do their own fi-eigliting and save 



large sums of money that go to the carriers in less 
favored coimties. The northern portion of the 
county is near enough to St. Louis and its market 
facilities are such that gardening can be followed 
with profit, and for this a few acres of land is all 
that is needed, indeed, Jefferson County is noth- 
ing less than a suburb of the great city of St. Louis. 

MAKKEKS. KAILROAD.S AND BUSINESS 

FACILITIES. 

The principal home markets for the products of 
the farm and shop are Crystal City and De Solo. 
The former has a population of 1,.500 and the latter 
3,500. There are many towns in tlie county of 
minor importance sucli as Kimmswick, Sulphur 
Springs, Pevely, Horine, Bailey's Station, Hematite, 
Victoria, Vineland, Hillsboro, Byrnesville, Antonia, 
House's Springs, Morse's Mills, Maxville and Avoca. 
The Missouri Pacific Railway runs for many miles 
along the northern and northwestern border of the 
county, and many of the people find markets along 
that road and reach St. Louis by it. Tlie Iron 
Mountain Railroad runs thirty miles through the 
county, and affords a way to business and market 
for a large portion of the population. As has been 
stated, the Mississippi River washes about twenty- 
tliree miles of the border, and hence many of our 
people have a Avater way to market north and south. 

POPULATION AND ITS COMPOSITION. 

The population of the county is now estimated at 
20,000. About one-third are German speaking peo- 
ple, principally Germans and Bohemians. There is 
also a large jiroportion of Irish. The Germans and 
Irish are mostly on farms and well-to-do. The bal- 
ance of the population is mostly American born, yet 
there are some from every country in Europe. 
There are about 500 colored people in the county. 
The American born population is composed of men, 
or descendants of men from every State in the Union. 
Our people are hospitable and neighborly, kind and 
liberal. Not only perfect freedom of conscience but 
also political fi-eedom exists here. No man is ostra - 
cised here on account of his religious and political 
opinions. All claim the right to regulate their own 
conduct religioiisly and politically, and this riglU i<i 
fullv and without stint accorded to all. 



JOHNSON COUNTY 



Johnson County lies in tlie Lamine River valley, 
about equally distant from the north and south 
lioundarics of the State, and in the second tier of 
counties from the western boundary line, distant 
from St. Louis about two hundred miles. It is 
bounded on the north by Lafayette County, on the 
east by Pettis County, on the south by Henry 
County, and on the west by C^iss and Jackson 
0<)uuties. 



The county contains .5-22, 019 acres, e.xclusive oi 
town lots, of which there are .'5,468 in the county. 
The surface of tlie country is gently unduhiting 
prairie lauds maini), tlioiigh traversed by iiuuierouu 
well timbered stream.-. 

CLI.MATK. 

Tlie climate is mild and salubrious. The degree* 
of cold and heat are regulated to such an extent a* 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



1G\ 



to not render it a locality subject to extremes. In 
the summer months the night's are remarkably cool. 

PRICE OF LANDS. 

Good farm lands, in cAiltivation, with fences, 
houses and outbuildings, can be bought at from 
fifteen to twenty dollars per acre. Wild lands at 
from five to eight dollars per acre. Farms in a fine 
state of cultivation, with all necessary buildings, 
outhouses, barns, orchards, etc., at from twenty to 
thirty dollars per acre, according to proximity to 
towns and railroad depots. 

POPULATION. 

According to the census of 1S70 Johnson County 
contained a population of 24,648, but from the in- 
crease indicated by census of school children for 
the year 1879, it would be just to place the present 
population at about 28,000 to 30,000. 

TIMBER SUPPLY. 

About one-fifth of the county is timber land. The 
indigenous forest trees include nearly aU the deci- 
duous trees of this latitude ; among the most useful 
of which are white oak, burr oak, hickory, black 
walnut, maple, wild cherry, locust, and sycamore. 
The varioas varieties of the elm, willow, buckeye, 
and redbud, are found, but are not classed among 
the most valuable. • 

SOIL AND PRODUCTS. 

The soil is generally a rich black loam, underlaid 
with limestone, producing al)undantly under 
pr'oper cultivation. In the vicinity of Warrensburg, 
the county seat, the soil is somewhat lighter, un- 
derlaid with sandstone, well adapted to grapes, and 
fruits of all kinds. 

Tlie prairie soU produces fine and abundant crops 
of wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley and grasses ; while 
tlie upland timbered portions are well adapted to 
wheat and fruits. In all parts of the county the 
raising of small grains and Indian corn receives the 
greater part of the attention of the inhabitants, 
though in tlie southern and southeastern parts con- 
siderable attention has been paid to the raising of 
blooded stock, with fair results as shown below. In 
one township there is not a single bull that is not of 
good pedigree. At one shipment made from this 
township in March, 1880, of thirty-one head of cattle, 
twenty-six three-year-old steers averaged 2,000 lbs. 
each, and five spayed heifers of the same age aver- 
aged 1,710 lbs. each. 

STREAMS, ETC." 

The county is weU watered. Springs are found in 
all parts of the county. The county is traversed by 
numerous creeks and small streams which afford 
ample drainage to all the uplands. Wells of living 
water can be obtained at a depth of from twenty-five 
to thirty and forty feet. 

RAILROADS. 

Johnson County has two raiiroads running across 
her borders : The Missouri Pacific Railway, travers- 
ing it through the center from east to west, and the 
Paola Branch of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas RaU- 



May. Near the northern ooundary, running through 
Lafayette County, is the Chicago & Alton Railroad ; 
and the main line of tho Missouri, Kansas & Texas 
Railway is but one mile from the southeast corner 
of tlie county. Johnson County sliips largely over 
these two last named railroads. 

COAL AND STONE. 

Almost the whole county is underlaid with the 
upper and middle coal measures. The veins vary in 
depth below the surface from five to one hundred 
feet, according to locality; and in thickness from 
fifteen inches to four and a half feet. The most ex- 
tensively worked coal mines are located at Montser- 
rat, in the eastern portion of the county, on the line 
of tlie Missouri Pacific Railway, and are turning out 
from twenty to twenty-five ear loads of coal per day. 

A fine mine for blacksmithing coal has been re- 
cently developed near Wan-ensburg. Various other 
mines in the county afford ample fuel of this kind 
for the local demand. Near AVarrensburg are the 
noted quarries fi-om which the famous Warrensburg 
sandstone is obtained. This stone is of a blue-gray 
in color, and when first taken from the quarry is 
comparatively soft and easily worked ; but, upon 
exposure to the weather, the particles become more 
firmly cemented togetiier, the color becomes a 
shade lighter, and forms one of the finest building 
stones in the West. It does not yield to the crumb- 
ling or disintegrating process produced by wet and 
freeze, that is seen in many other stones used for 
building purposes. This stone is extensively 
shipped, and is being used largely in the city of 
St. Louis and other Western cities. Samples of the 
material may be seen in the Merchants' Exchange, 
and most of the recently erected extensive business 
houses in the city of St. Louis, besides scores of 
palatial residences in its suburbs. Two large 
quarries of this valuable stone have been in success- 
ful operation for nearly ten years. A tliird quarry 
is now being opened, and will be operated this 
season. This stone is found in inexhaustible quan- 
tities. One thousand cars of this stone we»e shipped 
from the quarries in 1S79, and with the increased 
facilities for operating and the increasing demand 
for the matei-ial, it is expected the shipments of 1S80 
will exceed that of the previous year by at least 
fifty per cent. 

Limestone is found quite extensivelj^ in Johnson 
County, and worked with success, and a good qual- 
ity of lime is made from the stone taken out. 

MANUFACTORIES. 

The principal manufactories of the county are 
merchant flouring mills, grist mills, woolen mills, 
saw mills, foundries, machine shops, wagon fac- 
tories, etc. These manufactories are distributed 
throughout the county, principally located in the 
towns. The flouring mills, besides supplying home 
and local demands, export largely their products to 
Eastern and Southern markets. The woolen mills 
manufacture woolen fabrics and yarns, and do a 
good exporting business. The machine shops and 
foundries turn out agricultural implements, and do 
all kinds of repairing needed in the county. Two 
large and convenient elevators, located on railroad 



168 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



tracks, afford ample facilities for handling the large 
crops of grain in their removal to the great market 
center^:. 

TOWNS AN1> A'lLLAGKS. 

Of the fifteen towns or villages in the county, the 
principal ones are Warrensburg, Holden and Knob 
Koster. 

AVarrensbui'g, the county seat, is cent'rallj' located 
on the Missouri Pacific Railway, has a population 
of 4,000 and is thoroughly alive to progress and im- 
provement. Its educational advantages ai-e not 
surpassed by any (;ity of its size in the State. Be- 
sides its excellent public schools, it is the location 
of the Stale Xornial School. Warrensburg contains 
thirteen churches of different denominations. 

Holden, situated in the western part of the couuty, 
on the Missouri Pacific Railway, contains a popula- 
tion of about 2,500, and is at the junction of the 
Missouri Pacific Railway and the Paola Branch of 
the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway. It has a 
large grain trade, and contains many residences of 
thrift and enterprise. 

Knob I^oster, in the eastern portion of the county, 
contains about 1,000 inhabitants. It is a railroad 
town, and is the location of a large trade in grain 
and live stock. 

( lUllCHE:? AND SCIIOOI. FACILITIES. 

There are in the county between thirty and forty 
church ediiices and organizations Avhicli are in a 
jn-osperous condition. The denominations i-epre- 
scutcd are: The Christian, Methodist Episcopal, 
Methodist Episcopal .'?outh. Old .SchoolPresbyterl^n,. 
United Presbyterian, Cumberland Presbyterian, 
Baptist, Episcopalian, and Catholic. All these 
churches sustain regular service and have flourish- 
ing Sabbath-schools iu connection with their work, 
both in the towns and throughout the rural districts. 

There are in Johnson Couuty one hundred and 
twenty-eiglit school districts, all of which are or- 
ganized *ud have had schools during the last scho- 
lastic year. One hundred and thii-ty-one school 
houses are scattered over tlie count \-, of which 



three in Warrensburg, one in Holden, and one in 
Knob Noster, are edifices of which the respective 
towns are proud. In the schools in these thi-ee 
towns the grades reach what are commonly known 
as tlie high school grade, and, as a rule, arc much 
above the gi-ades of the schools iu the rural 
districts. 

The State Xormal of the Second District is located 
at Warrensburg. This flourishing institution of 
learning is under the fostering care of the State ; 
the teachers being paid by annual appropriations 
from the State. It enrolls annually between four 
and five hundred students, who are iireparing 
themselves by a thorough course of instruction and 
training to become teachei's in the public schools 
throughout the State. As a natural result Johnson 
County will be and is supplied with the very best 
class of teachers — as good as can be found in the 
Eastern States. 

TAXES AND INDEBTEDNESS. 

The assessed valuation of Johnson County for the 
year 1879 was $6,914,'217, and the total amount of tax 
levied for the same year was only $S9,22G, being a 
little over one per cent. The only indebtedness upon 
the county is that created by the location of the 
Normal School within the county, and the same is 
not a burden upon the people. 

, YIELD OF FARM PRODUCTS. 

The yield of farm products may safely be put 
down in the following figures : 

Wheat (fall) average 18 bush, per acre. 

Corn, avei-age — -50 " " " 

Oats, average 30 " " " * 

Irish potatoes, average... 100 " " '•' 

Ha}', average 2 tons " " 

Johnson County is in a flourishing condition. 
The farmers are operating with success. The 
debts are being paid off and the tillers of the soil 
becoming independent. Her prairie lauds are 
broad and fertile, and there is yet plenty of room 
for the industrious seekers of new homes to come 
Trere and set up the standard of enteiTjrise and 
prosperitv. 



KNOX COUNTY. 



Knox County is situated in northeast Missouri, in 
the midst of a fertile blue grass country. Its east- 
ern border is twenty-five niiles west of the Missis- 
sippi River and its northern boundary line is about 
the same distance from the Iowa State line. It is 
bounded on the east by Clai-k and Lewis Counties, 
and the south by Shelby and Macon, west by iNIacon 
and Adair and on the north )>y Scotland. 

TIMBER AM) WATER SLl'l'LV. 

The county is traversed by creeks and rivers 
flowing in a southeasterly direction into tlie Mis- 
.sissippi j;iver. Along the banks of ihv streams are 



found all varieties of oak, liickoiy, walnut, maple, 
wild cherry, linn and other forest timber peculiar to 
the latitude. Dwarf timber, consisting of hazel, 
crabapple, white thorn and plum are met with on 
the rising ground. 

SIKFACK AND PKODl C'lIONS. 

The principal portion of the surface of the county 
is undulating prairie, unsurpassed in fertility and 
general productiveness. Fruits and vegetables of 
all kinds succeed remarkably well, and in average 
cereal production Knox County is second to none. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



109 



The following certificates from reliable farmers of 
the county will prove of interest to the immigrant 
looking for a good location: 

"I, Samuel Murphy, of Jeddo Township, Knox 
County, hereby certify that in the year 1879 I cut and 
thrashed from eighty acres of cultivated land 2,466 
bushels of millet, and sold it all at fifty cents per 
bushel, making $1,233 for the crop, or $15.41 per acre 
off of my land, beside the thrashed hay, worth rea- 
sonably $2.50 per ton. 

" Such land as this, with improvements, is selling 
at from eight to fifteen dollars per acre. 

" Samuel Murphy, D.D." 

Dated March 15, 1880. 

" I live in Salt River Township, Knox County, Mis- 
souri. Came here from Illinois in 1857. In the year 
1879 I raised and husked and gathered off of ten 
acres of my land 1,240 bushels of good, sound mer- 
chantable corn. Tins measurement was by weight 
at seventy-five liounds to the bushel in the ear. My 
oat crop was not very good — thrashed out forty-five 
bushels to the acre. 

" I have eighteen acres of an apple orchard, which 
is about seven years old. The trees are all healthy 
and doing well. It yielded last year about 350 bushels 
of as good and choice apples as ever I saw in my life. 
All timothy meadows in my neighborhood average 
one and one -half tons of grass to the acre. 

" The health of this neighborhood is as good as it 
is anywhere in Amei-ica, or elsewhere. Lan4 just 
like mine can be bought on the usual terms of selling 
at from eight up to eighteen dollars per acre. 

" Luther Douglass." 

" I reside in Knox County, about eleven miles south a 
of Edina. I have lived in that neigliborhood for about 
thirty years. Came from the State of ^Maryland. I 
have an orchard of about 800 good, healthy apple 
trees, about twenty-five bearing cherry trees, about 
200 good, healtliy peach trees — now in full bloom. I 
also have gooseberries, currants, raspberries, grapes 
and other small fruits. All are doing very well. I 
never saw fruits in Maryland do as well as mine do 
here. Last j^ear I had three apple trees each of 
which bore twenty bushels of good choice fruit. My 
corn crop of 160 acres averaged sixty bushels to the 
acre. " Lewis %YraGHT." 

Dated April 1, 1870. 

" I, David Long, state that I reside in Shelton 
Township, Knox County, Missouri; and further 
state that in the year 1879 I planted three hundred 
acres of corn, from wliich I gathered 21,000 busliels 
of good corn. One part of my land, amounting to 
160 acres, yielded upM^irds of seventy-five bushels 
of corn to the acre. Tlie average yield of the 300 
acres was seventy bushels per acre. Lands like this 
in mj' neighborhood are selling on usual terms at 



from fifteen to eighteen dollars per acre. Corn, now 
in the market convenient, sells at from twenty-five 
to twenty-seven cents per bushel. 

* " David Long." 

April 2, 1880. 

" I, Charles O'Connor, reside in Liberty Township, 
Knox County, Missouri. Came here from the State 
of Wisconsin, in the year 1876, by reason of the 
good accounts I got of the place from friends and 
the press. The country is a verj^ good one, and 
all crops do very well ; and it is as healthy and free 
from sickness as Ireland. Last year I raised about 
125 bushels of good potatoes off of one -quarter of 
an acre of my land. Corn and grass do remarkably 
well here. Some men in my locality raised fine 
crops of wheat last year. Such land as mine, within 
three or four miles from church, and close to good 
school, well and all conveniences, rates from twelve 
to eighteen dollars per acre. 

"Charles O'Conkor." 

STOCK-RAISING. 

is a most important industry of the county. Large 
quantities of good mules and horses are annually 
sliipped to market from here, and the business in 
cattle, sheep and swine is very profitable and con- 
stantly increasing. In climate and grazing facili- 
ties the county ranks among the first. 

RAILROAD FACILITIES. 

The Quincy, IVIissouri & Pacific Railroad passes 
from east to west through this county. The Keokuk 
& Kansas Cityline is in process of rapid completion. 
The county will then possess the advantage of 
railroad competition. 

SCHOOLS. 

The public scliool system is well developed. 
Seventy-eight good school houses are open from 
six to ten montlis in the year. There are many 
good private scliools and among theni a convent 
school of the order of St. Joseph of Edina. 

RELIGIOUS MATTERS. 

The county is dotted witli liandsome^ chui'ches 
belonging to the leading religious denominations. 

INDUCEMENTS TO IMMIGRATION. 

From the above it will be seen that Knox County 
can claim to offer unusual advantages to the immi- 
grant in search- of a home. Tlie laws are adminis- 
tered without partiality, and society protected. 
Tlie county is well supplied with railroad facilities, 
schools and churches. The climate is healthful and 
pleasant. The rate of taxation is low, the price of 
lands within the means of all. The gentjral farmer, 
the stock man and the vine-grower can all satisfy 
themselves by a visit to Knox County. 



170 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



LACLEDE COUNTY. 



This county is situated in llic south-central part of 
Missouri. It contains about 474,879.28 acres of land. 
It is one of the best watered counties in the State, 
and is amply supplied with timber for fuel and build- 
ing purijoses. 

RIVERS, STREAMS ANO SPRINGS. 

The Gasconade River enters the county on the 
sast, in township 32, range i;{, pursues its torturous 
course through the county, in a nortlierly direction, 
about thirty-live or forty miles, Avatering six town- 
ships and thirty-live sections of land. Its principal 
tributary is the Osage Fork, v.'hicli enters the county 
in the southwest in township 32, range 16, meander- 
ing about fifty miles in a nortlieasterly direction, 
passing tlirough six townships and fifty-three sec- 
tions, and empties into the Gasconade in township 
3.5, range 14. These important streams have as their 
principal tributaries Prairie, Panther, Brush, Cobb's 
Mill, Bear, Park's, Steen's, and Myer's Greeks, which 
pass over ninety- eight sections of land. In addition, 
there are a number of smaller streams and springs 
that act as feeders. The next in order is the Dry 
Auglaize, which rises in township 34, range 16, and 
runs nortli about twenty miles, in its windings passes 
through eighteen sections of land, enters Camden 
County and finds its way to the Wet Auglaize. Its 
principal tributary is the " Goodwin Hollow," which 
rises in township 33, range 17, runs about twenty-five 
miles in a northerly direction, passing through five 
townships and twenty-tliree sections of land, and 
cntcre tlie Dry Auglaize in townsliip 36, range 16. 
The Niangua River runs along the western boundary 
of the couijty about twelve miles, and lias as its trib- 
utaries Jones, Duessenberry and Mountain Creaks, 
juid Spring Hollow; tliese flow tlirough thirty-six 
sections of land. Besides, this river is fed by a num- 
ber of large springs, the most noted of wliich is what 
has been called Bryce's Spring, situated near the 
line of Dallas and Laclede Counties, better known 
In tlie locality as Bennett's Spring, called after the 
name of tlie present owner, Peter M. Bennett. "It 
rises in a secluded valley Avhere it forms a small pond, 
and then flows away a river ; being, just below Avhere 
it flows from the spring, one hundred and twenty- 
six feet wide, has an average depth of about two 
feet and a velocity of more than one foot per second. 
TIio water is soft, and well adapted to fulling pur- 
poses. This immense spring discharges more tlian 
10,027,872 cubic feet of water per day ; the Avater is 
nearly pure, sustains about the same temperature at 
all seasons, and has no perceptible fluctuation in 
quantit y, in the dryest and wettest seasons and is so 
warm during the winter that no ice forms about the 
wheels or other machinery." After leaving the 
spring the water runs through tlie corner of Laclede 
County and empties into the Niangua River, about 
one mile from tlie spring. Take the map and loUow 
the course of these various streams and springs and 



it will be found tha*^ alino-t every .Section of land in 
the county is supplied with living water. 

THE LANDS 

There were assessed for taxation in 1879, 356,991 
acres of land in this county. Of these taxed land* 
82,727.71 acres belong to the St. Louis & San 
Francisco Railway Company, leaving 274,264.29 acre* 
that belong to private individuals. These lands are 
scattered through every township in the county. 

CIIARACTKU OF TAXED LANDS. 

Of these lands, about one-half are open and the 
other half timbered. Exclusive of railroad lands, 
about one -third are in cultivation. The bottom and 
valley lands along the streams are very rich and 
productive, and are skirted by rolling prairies or 
table lands, and abound in fine timber of th« 
choicest varieties. From the sources of theso 
streams to their mouths are found choice farms, 
well improved and stocked. The improved uplands 
are of good quality and productive, producing all 
the agricultural staples ; have proven superior for 
the growth and quality of tobacco, the tame grasses, 
Afruits and grapes. As a general rule, every upland 
farm has an abundance of wood land attached, and 
is well supplied with water. > 

PRICE OF LANDS. AND PRODUCTION. 

The improved bottom and valley lands sell at from 
five to twenty dollars per .acre, according to location 
and improvements ; the improved iiplands from 
two dollars and fifty cents to ten dollars per acre, 
according to location and improvements, both in- 
cluding the wood laruls attached. The railrcjad 
lands are held at low figures, and will be sold on 
accommodating terms. The unimproved land will 
bear comparison with the improved taxed lands in 
natural quality and location. 

The principal prpductions are wheat, com, oats, 
sorghum, tobacco, hay and potatoes. The average 
productions per acre on the bottom and valley lands 
are: wheat, twenty bushels; corn, fifty bushels; 
oats, fifty bushels; sorghum, two hundred to two 
hundred and fifty gallons ; hay, two tons, and jiota- 
toes, one hundred and fifty bushels; and on the 
uplands but a small percentage less, and of tobacco, 
seven hundred pounds per acre. 

THE UNTAXED LANDS 

are 117,888.28 acres. Timber largely predominalca 
in these lauds. Of these, about .5,000 acres are 
owned by the County of Laclede; 20,000 acres are 
swamp lands which have been sold by the county 
and no patents issued; 6,702.88 acres are school 
lands unsold; 6,500 acres are Agricultural College 
lands ; 20,000 acres are lands selected by the county 
as swamp, for which no patents have been issued to 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



171 



the State and county, leaving about 60,000 acres of 
public land belonging to the United States. The 
swamp lands owned by the county, and unsold, are 
sold f(jr from one dollar to one dollar and twenty - 
five cents per acre ; tlie school lauds usually bring 
one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre; the 
Agricultural College lands are valued at from one 
•lollar and twenty-flve cents to ten dollars per 
acre, and the Government lands within the railroad 
limit are sold at two .dollars and .fifty cents per 
acre, and outside of said limits, which constitute 
. much the greatest quantity, at one dollar and 
twenty-five cents per acre. These are all open to 
homestead entry. The swamp and Agricultural 
College lands were selected by commissioners, 
hence, as a general rule, are superior in quality to 
the unsold school and Government lands. Though 
there is a considerable portion of the county broken 
and hilly, almost every acre of its lands can be 
utilized ; all the hills, contain a greater or less 
amount of timber, suitable for fuel and rails, and 
the whole surface of the county, not in cultivation, 
is covered witli luxuriant growths of native grasses, 
affording an excellent range for stock — besides, 
these hills are the best location for orchards and 
vineyards. 

WATER - POWEK. 

.Some of the streams have been described and 
^Bennett's Spring contain excellent sites for flouring 
mills and other manufactures where the surplus 
productions of the county can be prorttably manu- 
factured. 

MINERALS. 

The geological surveys show the existence of 
mineral, particularly lead and iron, in different 
parts of the county, but tlius far no efforts have 
been made to develop its mineral resources. 

LIVE STOCK. 

From what has already been written every intelli- 
gent reader will see that the county is well ada])ted 
to stock-raising. In fact it is now one of the leading 
industries. The assessment for 1879 shows for that 
year 3,670 horses, valued at .?102,40n; mules, 1,064, 
valued at $32,670; cattle, 10,648, valued at $86,444; 
sheep, 10,34.3, valued at $11,194, and hogs, 21,342, 
valued at $24,519. Considerable pains are taken and 
large expenses incurred l)y a few citizens to improve 
the bj-eed of stock, and considerable interest is 
being manifested by the farmers in that direction. 

COUNTY FINANCES. 

The bonded debt of the county is $87,100. The 
annual interest thereon is $5,286. The present 
assessed value of taxable property is $1,800,000. If 
county courts keep within the constitutional limits 
of taxation tor current county expenses and levy an 
additional tax of forty cents on«the $100 value to pay 
the principal and interest of the bonded debt 
(wliich altogether will amount to tliirty-three and 
one -third percent, less than was levied in 1S79 for 
county purpo.ses) the M'hole of the bonded debt can 
be extinguished by the time the principal of the 
bonds become due and payable on the present 
assessed value of property and the current expenses 



of the county liquidated eitch year. The County 
Treasurer has advertised that there is sufficient 
money in the treasury to pay all the outstanding 
county warrants issued prior to January 1, 1878. 
This only leaves a floating debt evidenced by 
county warrants outstanding of $1,890.91. 

COMMON SCHOOLS. 

The report of the State superintendent of public 
schools for 1S78 shows : Number of persons between 
six and twenty years, 3,677; number attending 
schools, 2,585 ; teachers employed, 62 ; school houses, 
65; seating capacity, 3,168; value of school property, 
$36,925; average rate of tax levied, thirty-six cents 
on the one hundred dollars valuation ; school funds 
on hand at beginning of the year, $3,118.30; received 
from public funds, $3,664.04 ; from taxation, $3,078.63 ; 
teachers' wages, $6,618.14; funds on hand, $1,318.67; 
township school funds, $7,392.38; swamp land school 
fund, $4,093.07; county school fund, $1,474.88. Total 
$12,660.33. These statistics show that the county is 
well supplied with public schools and all the chil- 
dren are receiving the benefits of a common school 
education with but light burdens on the tax-payers. 
In addition to these there are several schools of 
high grade. 

MANUFACTURES. 

Though as shown, it is possessed of cheap and 
ample power for extensive manufactui-ing pur- 
poses, there are but a few manufactories in the 
county and they are confined to flouring and grist 
mills, and one woolen factor}^. 

TRANSPORTATION . 

The St. Louis & San Francisco Railway passes 
through the county from northeast to soiitliwes*^ a 
distance of more than thirty-six miles. Its taxable 
wealth in the county is $306,642. The stations of 
Stoutland, on the line of Camden County, and Phil- 
lipsburgajid Conway in the southwest of the county 
are aU points of considerable trade and do a good 
shipping business. But the great central shipping 
point of the county and of several adjacent counties 
is the 

CITY OF LEBANON. 

It is the county seat, and i« on the St. Louis 
& San Francisco Railway about one hundred 
and eighty-five miles southwest of St. Louis ; has 
a beautiful location near the center of the county 
surrounded by a fine .agricultural district. It 
has a population of about 1,600; has fine stoi-es, 
costly residences, numerous churches, schools, 
and all the essenials of high and progres- 
sive civilization. Its public school building is a fine 
edifice with a seating capacity for six hundred 
pupils. Its jail, situated in the public square, near 
the center of the city is a beautiful brick .structure, 
and is one of the best in the State for safety, con- 
venience and coiiifo'rt. 

In commercial importance there is probably no 
town in the State of its size which is superior to it. 
Having a lai'ge territory to the north, south and 
west, embracing several counties that are tributary 
to it, Lebanon is the central trading and shipping 
point of Sonthwest Missouri. It received in one 



172 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



year over the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway 
four hundred and flfty car loads of treight and ex- 
ported by the same route and within the same time 
five hundred and twenty-three car loads of live 
stock, grain and other products. 



The people of Lebanon are industrious, generous 
and pious. They invite the citizens of every 
country to come and settlein Laclede County and 
assist in the development of her inexhaustible re- 
sources. 



LAFAYETTE COUNTY. 



Lafayette County is situated in the western part 
of the State of Missouri. It is bounded on the north 
by the Missouri Eiver; on the south by Johnson 
County; on the west by Jackson County, and on the 
east by Saline County. 

SURFACE AND SOIL. 

Its general surface is high and rolling, about 
three -fourths being prairie and one-fourth timber. 
A high ridge passes south of its center, separating 
the tributaries of the Missouri from those of the 
Lamine. Many streams throughout the county 
afford an abundance of stock water. Along these 
streams are found fine groves of timber, such as 
walnut, oak, hickory, elm, ash, Cottonwood, linn, 
poplar, maple, etc. The soil is a deep, rich black 
loam, in many places four or five feet deep, never 
less than two or three feet deep unless it is washed. 
It is underlaid with limestone, and is unsurpassed 
by any agricultural country on earth for fertility 
and production of a large variety of products. 

LAND — PRICES AND PRODUCTIONS. 

The county contains 315,000 acres of improved 
lands, and 60,000 acres of wood land, besides 18,000 
acres of other unimproved lauds. The average 
price of improved land is about twenty-five dollars 
per acre ; of unimproved laud, from five dollars to 
twelve dollars and iifty cents per acre. The com- 
modities for export are mainly wheat, corn, hemp, 
tobacco, cattle and hogs. The average yield of 
corn is about fifty -iive bushels, and of wheat from 
fifteen to forty bushels per acre. 

LIVE STOCK. 

Much attention has been paid to the raising of im- 
proved live stock in the county, especially of horses, 
cattle and hogs. Some of the finest horses and cattle 
in the State are found within her borders as has fre- 
quently been demonstrated by the premiums carried 
off by her stock men at the St. Louis, Kansas City 
and other large agricultural fairs. The county is 
well adapted to stock raising, the climate not being 
subject to extremes, being Jiappily situated just far 
enough north to have mijd winters,.only sufficiently 
cold to insure, with moderate certainty, an annual 
ice crop, and not far, enough soutli to be subject to 
the enervating influences of a warm climate. In the 
growth of its grasses it is unsurpassed. Central 
Kentucky cannot excel it for blue grass, wliich grows 
to an enormous height; and timothy, clover, orchard 
and other grasses grow with great luxurience. So 



true is this that it is nearly always feasible to winter 
cattle through in fine condition without feeding 
grain at all. 

FRUIT CULTURE. 

By common consent this portion of Missouri is 
acknowledged to be one of the finest fruit growing 
countries in the world. Apples grow remai'kably 
large and free from specks, and are of peculiar good 
flavor. Peaches are raised without difficulty, in gi-eat 
abundance and of the finest quality. So also of 
pears, plums, apricots, nectarines, cherries and 
other orchard fruits. Grapes are particular!}- suited 
to the soil and climate, and grow to great size and. 
perfection. Small fruits of all kinds do well. The 
county derives a large revenue from fruits, as splen- 
did markets surround it at convenient distances. 

SHIPPING FIGURES. 

A partial report of the shipments from the county 
from July 1, 1879, to April 1, 1880, is as follows. A 
full report from all the town would exhibit at least 
twenty-five per cent, more, and the last was not by 
any means an exceptionally good crop year. 



Towns. 




o » 




m 

be 
© 

I— ( 
i-t 




50,000 
50,000 
75,000 
80.000 
185,500 
120,000 
50,000 
70,000 
50,000 
120,000 
60,000 
30,000 


50,000 
80,000 
20,000 

120,000 
80,750 
50,000 
50,000 
70,000 
60,000 

l'.J,0,000 
20,000 
20,000 


140' 1,500 
500 3,500 
800 2 500 






AuUville 


580 3,100 
196, 3,540 




Bates Gitv 


800, 2,500 


Page City 


500, 1,500 
600| 3.100 


Ma^^'iew 


200 
800 
200 
1.50 


1,500 
3,500 




1,500 


Napoleon 


1,000 


Total 


950,500 


720,750 


5,446 


28,740 









COAL. 

Coal is abundant in nearly every part of the 
county, and especially iso in all the river bluffs. It 
is of excellent quality. It lies in such a wa,y in the 
river bluff's that it is very easily and cheaply mined. 
The county mines and .ships more coal than does 
any other county in the State, and the mines at 



Haxd-Book of Missouri. 



173 



Lexington, the county seat, yield a very large rev- 
enue. Manufacturing enterprises may, by owning 
their coal lands, procure their coal at a cost to 
themselves of not more than six cents per bushel. 

MANUFACTURES. 

The manufacturing interests of the county are not 
nearly what they should be, when the great facili- 
ties in cl^ap fuel, abundant water, cheap living, 
healthfulness, and convenience to a number of large 
markets are considered. Lexington has two foun- 
dries, two large flouring mills, wagon and black- 
smithing shops, and a very flourishing furniture 
factory, which employs a number of hands. The 
other towns in the county have the milling and 
other manufacturing establishments usually found 
in prosperous villages. 

COUNTY FINANCES. 

The finances of the county are in a healthy condi- 
tion. According to the present assessment there is 
shown to be $9,000,000 worth of taxable property in 
the county. The present rate of taxation for State 
and county combined is $1.20 on the $100 valuation. 
The public school tax averages thirty cents on the 
$100 valuation. The county public school fund 
amounts to $87,000, and yields an anniial revenue of 
$8,700. The State school moneys apportioned for 
the schools of this county amount to soniething 
over $6,000 per annum. 

CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS. 

ijafayette contains a highly intelligent and moral 
population. Churches of every Christian denomi- 
nation are to be found all over the county, minis- 
tered to by eminent divines. The county ovms one 
hundred and one public school houses, and rents 
nine other houses for school purposes. It has in 
operation ninety-two white itublic scliools and 



eighteen colored public schools. It employs seventy 
male teachers and sixty female teachers, all com- 
petent and zealous in the great work of education. 
In addition to tliese schools, three of the most 
prosperous female seminaries in the Avest are lo- 
cated in this county, at Lexington: The Elizabeth 
Aull Seminary, Rev. J. A. Quarles, president, 
Presbyterian; the Baptist Female College, John F. 
Lanneau, A. M., president; Central Female College, 
Dr. AV. G. Miller, presidefit, Methodist. 

TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES. 

The Missouri River Avashes fifty miles of one side 
of the countj', affording drainage and water trans- 
portation. The Missouri Pacific Railway has twenty- 
eight and one -fourth miles of track in the county; 
the Chicago & Alton Railroad thirty- seven miles, 
and the Kansas City & Eastern fourteen miles, thus 
giving to the county every facility for transporta- 
tion which could be desired. 

INDUCEMENTS TO IMMIGRATION. 

Taken altogether, Lafayette County is the peer of 
any of her sister counties in the wonderfully jiro- 
ductive and lovely valley of the Missouri. Its 
people are intelligent, hospitable, generous, public 
spirited. Its material and social advantages are 
unsurpassed auj-^vhere in any State. Cheap lands, 
a soil equal in fertility to the famoiis valley of the 
Nile, good climate, water, coal, and wood, abundant 
transportation facilities, educational advantages 
rarely equaled, religion and morality generally in- 
culcated, good roads, social neighborhoods, a people 
who invite immigration, all combine to make it the 
most desirable countrj'' in the west for those seek- 
ing homes where their children may have the re- 
fining influences of education and society, and 
where the man of small capital, supplemented with 
energv, may build up a happy home. 



LAWRENCE COUNTY 



Lawrence County is situated in the southwest 
part of the State, west of Springfield, and contains 
625 square miles, or 389,681 acres, of which 379,848 
acres are assessed for taxation, leaving 9,833 acres 
\inaccounted foi\ The average assessed value is 
3.74 11-100 dollars per acre. The total assessed 
valuation for 1879 was $2,600,000. The population 
amounts to about 20,000. 

SURFACE, CHARACTERISTICS AND SOIL. 

The land is about equally divided between timber 
and prairie. In ordinary seasons it is all very pro- 
ductive. The soil varies in quality, but all is 
valuable. The uneven and unsubdued portion is 
valuable for pasturage, containing a wild growth of 
grass, kno\\Ti as prairie grass, on M'hich many cattle 
range, and much goes to waste. 



PRICES OF LAND, AND PRODUCTIONS. 

The uncultivated portion of the lands are gen- 
erally owned by non-resident land speculators and 
the St. Louis & Sa)i Francisco Railway Company, 
and can be bought at reasonable rates, from two 
dollars and fifty cents to eight dollars per acre, on 
long time at a low rate of interest. The agricultural 
productions are wheat, corn, tobacco, oats, rye, 
barlej', peas, beans, flax, potatoes, sorghum, grapes 
and vegetables of almost every variety grown in 
the United States. Timothy, blue and orchard 
grass, re^ clover, red top and all other tame grasses 
grow well. Apples, peaches, plums, pears, cherries, 
and all manner of berries, are of the finest flavor. 

The land in Lawrence County produces on an 
average fifty bushels of corn, eighteen or twenty of 



174 



Hand-Book of Missouki. 



wheat, aud forty bushels ^f oats to the acre. All 
otlier grain grown in a climate like this, grows 
equally as well here. 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 
Fair prosijects for paying lead mines have been 
found in different parts of the county. Near Aurora, 
a station on the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway, 
in section six, township twenty-six, range twenty- 
live, sixteen thousand pounds wei-e taken out of a 
shaft fifty feet deep. Struck mineral at eleven feet, 
largest piece weighing eighteen pounds, found at a 
depth of sixteen feet. Mineral ranges northeast 
and southwest. 

SHIPPING STATISTICS. 
The St. Louis & San Francisco Railway runs 
through the entire south side of the county, and the 
Kansas division of the same road from Peirce City 
across the northwest corner, and engineers are now 
sui-veying a road from Peirce City, south into 
Arkansas. The Sedalia, Warsaw & Southern Rail- 
road is pi-omised to be extended from Warsaw 
through Mt. Vernon to Peirce City and to Paris, 
Texas. 

The following is a statement of all shipments by 
the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad during the 
last year from four stations in the county, viz.: 
From Peirce City, for 1879, freight forwarded : 

Stock 360 cars 

Wheat 495 " 

Potatoes 1.5 " 

Lime 50 " 

Total tonnage 21,527,945 lbs. 

Freights received dui'ing the same period : 

Sundries 0,989,872 lbs. 

Verona Station. — Freights forwarded : 

40 cars lumber 880,000 lbs. 

10 " tobacco 200,000 " 

162 " live stock .3,240,000 " 

225 " wheat 5,400,000 " 

Sundry freights 2,165,200 " 

Total 11,885,200 lbs. 

Freiglits received : 

Sundry freights 7,632,.584 lbs 

Logan Station: 

Cars stock 116 

" grain 117 

" lumber 72 

Total 805 

Total tonnage forwarded, 1879.. 6,667,970 lbs. 

Tonnage received 627,200 " 

Aurora Station: 

Freights forwarded for 1879 1,813,409 lbs. 

Freights received " " 343,417 " 

A great deal of freight from the east and north- 
east part of the county is shipped from stations in 
Greene County, and from the north, northwest and 
■west jiart of the county, from stations in .Jasper 
Comirty, besides many liorses and mules are brought 
and di-iven on foot south to Louisiana and west to 
Kansas for sale. 

STREAMS AND SPRINGS. 
Tlici-o are many beautiful streams in the county, 
all noted for their clear and pure water, among 
which are Spring River, which rises in the southern 
part of the county; Honey Creek, Center Creek, 
Williams Creek, Stable Creek and Turnback. None 



of these streams are bridged. Bridges are not 
needed e^jcept in times of high water. The streams 
are shallow, beds gravelly, banks firm and fords 
solid. There are many fine springs, some of great 
size and beauty, viz. : Big Spring nt, and one live 
miles west of Mt. Vernon, the county seat. Paris 
Chalybeate Springs, fourteen miles east of Mt. 
Vernon, noted for its healing qualities. Grand 
Springs, eight miles east of Mt. Vernon, Polk 
Springs, twelve miles southeast. A large^pring in 
the west part of the county. Some of these springs 
and many of the streams furnish excellent water- 
power. 

CLIMATE AND HEALTH. 
The county lies at an elevation of 1,300 feet above 
the level of the sea, on what is known as the table 
lands of the Ozark Mountains, is not a level plain nor 
hilly, but sufficiently rolling to drain the soil well 
and leave no ponds or stagnated water to brood 
disease. Health is exceedingly good. 

TIMBER SUPPLY. 

The timber consists of walnut, hickory, black oak, 
maple, cherry, post oak, burr oak, hackberry, mul- 
berry, sycamore, red oak, black-jack and other 
species. About twenty-five per cent, of the land is 
in cultivation, at least one -half of which has been, 
put in cultivation within the last ten years. 

FINANCIAL MATTERS. 
In the matter of finance, Lawrence County is in a 
healthy condition. Her bonded indebtedness will 
not exceed $5,000, and that is a balance due on a 
$16,000 jail she has recently built. The levy of tax 
for county i^urposes for the year 1879 was fifty cents 
on the one hundred dollars valuation of property 
for all purposes. There is no occasion of increased 
taxation. The county has a three story brick court 
house, permanent jail and office buildings, poor 
house and farm, etc. 

TOWNS. VILLAGES AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 

The county abounds in building rock, both sand 
and lime. At Peirce City is a lime kiln furnishing 
to Missouri, Kansas and Texas, lime equal to Alton. 
Peirce City has two carriage and wagon factories, 
plow factory, $15,000 school building, etc. The 
Baptists are now erecting a brick college Ijuilding 
at Peii-ce City. Mnrionville has a Methodist college, 
which has been open for live years. Mt. Vernon has 
a carriage and wagon factory, plow factory, etc. 
Other villages are : Logan, Aurora, Verona, Bowers' • 
Mills, Lawrenceburg, Phelps, Halltown, Heaton and 
Round Grove. There are ten floiiring mills in the 
county. Many saw mills exit the native lumber, yel - 
low pine, drawn from Arkansas. 

SOCIETY, CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS. 

Society is very good. There are twenty-five 
churches and eighty - one school houses in the 
county. The Presbyterian, Baptist, Congregation - 
alist, Methodist (North and South), Episcopal, 
Christian. Lutheran and Catholic are all represented 
and established. The churches and school houses 
are mostly new, nearly all of them having been 
built since the war. The school districts are gen- 
erally out of debt. Public schools are taught in 
every district in the county from four to nine months 
in the year. First-class teachers are emi)loyed,and 
the county can boast of the intelligence of her youth. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



175 



LEWIS COUNTY. 



Lewis County is in the northeast part of the State, 
en tlie Mississippi River, and separated from the 
State of Iowa by Clark County. It was organized 
on the second day of January, A. D. 1S33, and 
named in lionor of Captain Merriwether Lewis, the 
first American Governor of Louisiana, and who, 
with Lieutenant Clarlj, first traced tlie Missouri 
Kiver to its source, crossed the Rocky Mountains, 
and descended tlie Columbia River to its moiith. 

AREA, SURFACE, SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 

Lewis County has a river front of some twenty- 
three miles, and extends back therefrom twenty-four 
miles. It contains about .50L5 square miles, or over 
321,000 acres, of which one -half is fertile prairie, 
and the balance timber, the latter for the niost part 
skirting the streams, of which the principal are the 
"Wyaconda, North and Middle Trabius, with Sugar, 
Durgain, Grassj' and Troublesome Creeks as tribu- 
taries. These generally flow in a southeasterly 
direction, and furnish an aliundance of water at all 
seasons. The soil is generally fertile and well 
adapted to the growth of corn, wheat, rye, oats, 
timothy and blue grass, the latter growing here as 
readily and with as much luxuriance as in the far- 
famed "blue grass regions" of Kentucky. The 
yield of corn is very prolific, and in favored sections 
wheat reached as high as thirty bushels per acre in 
1870. The average yield of oats is from twenty to 
forty-five bushels per acre. Of late years, con- 
siderable attention has been given to timothy, and 
during the last season not less than 20,000 bales were 
shipped at the single port of Canton. 

PRINCIPAL TOWNS, MARKETS AND SHIPPING. 

The principal towns are Canton and LaGrange, on 
the Mississippi River, as well as the Keokuk & St. 
Louis Railroad. Mouticello, the county seat, near 
the center of the county, Labelle, Lewistown, Dur- 
ham, and Maywood on the Quincy, Missouri & 
Pacific Railroad, and Williamstown and Deer Ridge, 



in the northwest part of the county, all of which are 
favorable points for ti-ade and manufactures. The 
river to^vns, however, having the advantage of 
transportation by both rail and river afford an ex- 
cellent cash market for all kinds of stock, and in- 
deed for every product of the farm. 

STOCK-RAISING AND MANUFACTURE. 

For stock-raising Lewis County probably has no 
superior in the State, while the advantages offered 
for manufacturing, especially farming implements, 
make it a desirable location for men of skill, capital 
and enter]3rise. 

PRICE OF LANDS. 

Unimproved land can be bought in lots of from 
forty to two hundred acres for from five to ten dollars 
per acre, and improved farms at twelve to twenty- 
five doUars per acre according to location and im- 
provements. 

SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. 

The county is well supplied with schools and 
churches, located conveniently to almost every 
neighborhood. Of higher institutions of learning 
it boasts <si Christian University at Canton, LaGrange 
Baptist College at LaGrange, and Monticello Semi- 
nary at the county seat, besides well conducted and 
thoroughly graded public schools in all the larger 
towns. 

NEWSPAPERS. 

Four newspapers are published in this county, viz : 
The " Press" and "News" at Canton, " Democrat" 
at LaGrange, and " Journal " at Monticello. 

POPULATION AND FINANCES. 

The population of the county in 1876 was reported 
at 16,320, but it now will probably reach 20,000. The 
county finances are ably administered, and the rate 
of taxation is low. 



LINCOLN COUNTY. 



Lincoln County is situated on the Mississippi 
River and is the second one above St. Louis. It is 
nearly square in shape, its greatest length being 
twenty-nine miles east and west, and its greatest 
breadth twenty-four north and soutli. It has an 
area of 620 square miles, or 396,148 acres. The thirty- 
ninth degree wf latitude passes through its center, 
and its isothermal line is fifty-six. 



TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 

The topography presents but few very striking 
features. Along the Mississippi River is a bottom 
prairie two or three miles wide. This is bounded on 
the west by rock bluffs Mhicli vary from fifty to tw» 
thousand feet in -elevation. These bluffs are cut in 
many places by narrow valleys through which flow 



17(3 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



tlie streams that fall east of the dividing ridge. This 
main ridge is nearly parallel to the ^lissis^iippi River, 
from eight to twelve miles distant and neai-ly as far 
from Cuivre River on its west. The eastern half of 
the county has an uneven surface, with ridges rising 
in places more than a hundred feet above the adja- 
cent valleys, generally parallel to the dividing 
ridge, and in the northeast is a ridge of knobs run- 
ning north and south, and from four to five hundred 
feet high. From many points the prospect is very 
beautiful. The western half of the county is mostlj' 
high rolling prairie, cut throiigh in many places by 
the Sulphur, Korth, West, and Eagle Forks of Cuivre 
River and their tributaries, bordered by heavily tim- 
bered land. The prairie land comprises about one- 
third of the area of the county. 

SOILS AND PRODUCTIVENESS. 

The soil of Lincoln County is varied in kind and 
quality. In quality it ranges from poor to extremely 
rich. Yet while none is too rich for careful and 
thorough cultivation not to pay largely over slovenly 
tilling, so none is too poor to make fair return for 
labor judiciously bestowed. The prairie soil Is 
tolerably uniform ; none of it can be called poor. A 
small proportion of the prairie land is what is called 
Crowfoot land, the best iipland prairie soil known. 
It has suflicient sand for the water to drain off rap- 
idly in wet weather, and enough of clay, lime, mag- 
nesia and humus to retain moisture. Four-fifths of 
the prairie is of the kind known as Resin weed land, 
possessing less sand and more clay than the Crow- 
foot land, and like it based upon silicious marl, 
which insures, M'ith proper cultivation, practically 
unlimited durability. WhUe inferior in quality and 
scope to tlie Crowfoot land it is of great fertility, 
and in favorable seasons, and with iiroper cultiva- 
tion, will produce from fifty to seventy-five bushels 
of corn, forty to sixty bushels of oats, twenty-live to 
thirty-five bushels of wheat, and two to three tons 
of grass per acre. With the average season and the 
various grades of tillage in vogue among our 
farmers, good, fair to middling, and bad, the gen- 
eral averages will reach about half the above esti- 
mates. The bottom prairies have a very rich and 
inexhaustible soil. Lying mostly on the Mississippi 
River, by reason of its occasional overflow, which 
has occurred about every ten years, and of insuffl- 
<;ient drainage, most of these lands are yet unculti- 
vated. The difference in the soils of prairie and 
timbered lands of the same formation in tliis county 
has been nearly oblitei-ated in the process of culti- 
vation, and in a few years the limits of the prairies 
cannot be told ))y the characteristics of its soil. 
The timbered lands in this county comprise the 
kinds known as hackberry lands, elm lands, hickory 
lands, white oak lands, and post oak lands. The 
first two are contiguous and interspersed, and con- 
tain very superior soil, growing in great luxuriance 
corn, wheat, oats, barley, tobacco, and all kinds of 
fruit. The liickory lands are next in grade, with a 
soil more clayey and not so deep, sulisoil more im- 
pervious, and the underlying marls containing less 
sand and lime and more clay. It responds gener- 
ously to good culture and is easily rendered dur- 
able. It is adapted to corn, wheat and other cereals, 
tobacco and the grasses. Blue grass will grow on it 
r-pontaneously and luxuriantly. This kind in this 



county has an area about equal to that of hack- 
berry and elm lands combined. White oak lands 
occupy a. relatively large area in this count}% The 
surface soil is not so rich as that of the hickory 
lands, but the subsoil is quite as good, and the un- 
derlying marls not so clayey and impervious. It 
produces good corn, fair timothy, vei-y fine sor- 
ghum, and the best wheat and tobacco in America. 
It is Avell adapted to all kinds of fruits, especially 
peaches and grapes. Post oak lands comprise a 
smaller area in this county. The soil is similar to 
that of white oak lands with rather less lime and 
sand. Its productions are also similar. Another 
variety of soil is the magnesian limestone, occupy- 
ing the slopes, hillsides and narrow vallevs of the 
northeastern, part of the county. It is rich in lime, 
mqghesia and humus, producing corn, the cereals, 
and all kinds of fruits. 

According to the census of 1876 Lincoln County 
was then the thirty-fourth county of the State in 
population; in the value of total agricultural pro- 
ductions it was the eleventh; in the value of live 
stock it was the sixteenth ; in the amount of corn 
raised it was the twenty-sixth; in the amomit of 
wheat it was tenth; in the amount of tobacco it was 
third. These facts show the productive capacity of 
the soil to be considerably above the average. 

STREAMS AND WATER. 

The streams are numerous, affording water to 
every neighborhood. Few localities are so blessed 
in this particular. Their beds contain immense de- 
posits of the best gravel. Springs are also numer- 
ous in the timbered lauds, about a dozen of these 
are known to be strongly impregnated with miner- 
als, notably iron, salt, sulphur and magnesia. 

TIMBER SUPPLY. 

The timbers comprise all the serviceable woods 
except pine and poplar. Lincoln is the best tim- 
bered county in North Missouri. In it are found 
oak, walnut, cherry, ash, maple, birch, hickory, lin- 
den, Cottonwood, sycamore, locust, elm, pecan, 
hackberry, mulberry, willow,, coffee -tree, cedar, 
catalpa, ironwood, dogwood, hornlieam, boxelder, 
sassafras, persimmon, and some others, showing an 
excellent variety for domestic, farm and manufac- 
tui-ing pui-poses. 

MINERALS. 

The minerals of Lincoln County are almost en- 
tirely undeveloped. In the southwest i)art of the 
county coal is found to the thickness of twenty- 
seven feet, the layers containing cannel, bituminous 
and Ijlack coals. 

A good quality of coal is also found in the south- 
eastern part of the county. Iron ore, mostly the 
red hematite, exists in many places, though no 
attempt has been made to utilize it, and its supply 
is a matter of conjecture. It is of excellent quality, 
as its analysis shows. 

Building stone of many varieties is found in the 
county, and is rapidly finding favor as an article of , 
export. 

Superior lime can be made in every section of the 
county. There are many beds of neai-ly pure car- 
Ijonate of lime. In several places is foftnd ah j'draulic 
limestone of from four to six feet thick. It is capable 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



177 



of making a fair article of hydraiilic cement. Good 
fire clay is foiind Avith most of the coal beds. 
Good potter's clay exists in several jilaces; also, 
white clay, suitable for whitewash. None of these 
clays are utilized. lu sevei-al places are immense 
deposits of the very finest glass sand. The analysis 
is: Silica, 90.i5.5; alumina, 0.33; iron, a trace; lime, 
0.08, and water, 0.015. Want of facilities for ti'ans - 
portatiou prevents the woi-king of the beds. 

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS-. 

The agricultiiral productions are varied, though 
not as much so as a better development of resources 
and a higher cultivation Avould demand. All the 
grains and grasses are distributed over the county, 
but in some cases with unequal results. In the 
eastern and southeastern parts of the county, com- 
prising about half its area, wheat is the prominent 
crop. Its quality is unsurpassed, fully equal to the 
best raised in the State, which is recognized as jn-o- 
ducing the finest in the world. The yield is also 
better, several crops having reached from forty to 
forty-five bushels per acre last season, and the 
general average being between twenty and twenty- 
five bushels. Under careful tUlage, the same field 
being kept continually in wheat, the average is 
rising yearly. Competent judges are of the opinion 
that the general average will reach at least thirty- 
five bushels. Corn, oats and, in many places, the 
grasses are successfully grown. In the remaining 
half of the county, corn, oats, the grasses and live 
stock are the principal products, while wheat is 
raised on nearly every fai'm, but with less acreage, 
less yield per acre and of a somewhat lower grade. 
Its general average is from twelve to fifteen bushels 
per acre, with an upward tendency under good 
tillage. Clover, Hungarian grass and millet grow 
equally well all over the county; timothy yields 
better in the western half; rye, barley and buck"^- 
wheat yield well in every section, but their acreage 
is small. Broom corn yields abundantly in every 
part of the county, but, except in a few localities, 
no attention has been paid to it. Tobacco is advan- 
tageously gi'own on the timbered lands. The golden 
leaf of the white oak and post oak ridges is of the 
very finest quality, and is in great demand for 
wrappers. Soi'ghum is grown in every part of the 
county; the uplands produ(^ing less, but of a finer 
quality. The small mills in the different localities 
manufacture the cane into molasses, with success 
varying according to skill employed. 

FRUIT CULTURE. 

Apples, peadies, pears, .etc., and the smaller 
fruits grow well here. This county is in the great 
apple belt of the United States, that extends from 
western New York to New Mexico, which is known 
by horticulturists to include the best territory for 
yield and quality. Except from the orchards con- 
venient to the Mississippi River, no fruit has been 
exported from the county, the facilities for trans- " 
portation not yet iustifying it. Little attention has 
been paid to grapes ; they groAv well, are very free 
from mildew and blight, and are never troubled l)y 
insects. Inyield and flavor, they equal those grown 
in any county in the State. 



DAIRYING. 

While corn, clover .and the grasses grow so 
abundantly, tliere are no dairy farms and scarcely 
any cheese is made. This profitable industry is 
undeveloped omng to Avant of transportation fa- 
cilities. Stock-raising is profitable in every part of 
the county, and in some localities is carried on 
quite extensiA'ely. 

TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES. 

The transportation facilities have heretofore been 
convenient only to the eastern and southeastern 
parts of the county. The Mississippi River bounds 
the county for tAventy-three miles, CuiAre on the 
south is navigable as far as Chain of Rocks. A fCAV 
mUes from the southern line of the county runs the 
Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway. The Keokuk 
& St. Louis Railroad, completed in September, runs 
through the countj', three or four miles from and 
parallel Avith the Mississippi River. The St. Louis, 
Hannibal & Keokuk Railroad is graded througli the 
center of the county from uortli to south. It is 
finished to the northern line of the county, and the 
directory claim that the entire road Avill be com- 
pleted inside of six months. A brancli from this 
will run Avest to connect Avith the coal mines in the 
southwestern part of the county. No point in tiie 
county Avill then be more than tAvelve miles from 
railroad communication. By these tAVO roads the 
southern line of the county is only forty miles from 
St. Louis. 

CLIMATE AND HEALTHFULNESS. 

As regards health this county is fully up to the 
average of the State, which statistics prove one of 
the healthiest in the Union. 



KD 



SCHOOLS, CHURCHES ANd SOCIETIES. 

The public schools number eighty-five. The build- 
ings are good and many of them commodious and 
handsome. The average length of term is seven, 
months. The standard is being constantly elevated. 
There are also some good private schools. The 
churches are distributed thus: Missionary Baptist, 
fourteen; Methodist, South, ten; Christian, eight; 
Roman Catholic, four; Old School Baptist, three; 
United German Evangelical, two; Associate Re- 
formed Presbyterian and Cumberland Presbyterian, 
each one. There are seven Masonic and four Odd 
Fellows lodges and one Royal Arch Chapter in the 
county. 

There are twenty-eight post-offices in the county, 
l)retty evenly distributed over the county, each liav- 
iug convenient mail service. 

FINANCIAL. 

The taxes are light, being for State and county 
only seven mills on the doUar, assessed valuation. 
In this State itnlike most of the eastern States, 
property is assessed" at only one-third its actual 
value. The county has no debt except f260,000 rail- 
road bonds, the legality of Avhich is being tested in 
tlie courts. The Supreme Court of the United 
States Avill probably reach the case next year. If 
tlie bonds are adjudged legal, the taxes Avill be some- 
what heavier, but under proper management avUI 



178 



Hand-Book of JSIissouri. 



still be moderate in proportion to assessed valua- 
tion. Four judgments amounting to ?6,637.33 on 
these bonds rendered by the United States Cii-cuit 
Court, and separately for amounts too small to allow 
appeal to the Supreme Coiirt were promptly paid. 
Notwithstanding these bonds in litigation the county 
can be truthfully said to be in excellent financial 
conditian. Under a lately enacted law, railroads 
pay a coiihty tax on their railroad and rolling stock 
in proportion to the number of miles within the 
county. 

POPULATION. 

The population of this county, according to the 
census of 187C, is 16,858, twenty-seven to the square 
mile. The increase for some years has not been 
equal to the average of the State, owing to the fact 
of its being oflf the lines of emigrant travel, and tlie 
advantages it offers to immigration not being better 



known. This deflciency'of immigration can be filled 
up and still have ample room for more. 

PRICE OF LAND. 

Tlie average price of land in this county is low. 
This is especially noted when the prices here are 
compared with tliose of the well worn lands of older 
States and of tliose localities of the further west to 
whicli immigration has been strongly attracted 
through tlie representations of speculators and large 
landed. proprietors. It is safe to say that scarcely 
anywliere else do prices rule so low for lands of 
equal productiveness and proximity to market. 
Good unimproved land can be bought for four to ten 
dollars, and good improved land for eight to thirty- 
dollars per acre. 

The inducements j^incoln County offers to settlers 
are solid and substantial. Some idea of what these 
are may be gathered from the above description. 



LINN COUNTY. 



Linn Connty is in the exact center of the State, 
east and west; her north boundary is forty miles 
south of the Iowa State line and her south boundry, 
twenty miles north of the Missouri River. 

The county is nearly square in form and contains 
six hundred and forty-eight square miles. Seventy- 
five per cent, of her lands consists of beautiful un- 
dulating prairies, and the residue of timbered val- 
leys and rolling tijiiber lands. 

SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS. 

The topography of the country presents a scene 
of beauty and rural lovliness unsurpassed in any 
country. There are eight running streams, which, 
with tlieir tributaries, cross the county from north 
to south, furnishing an abundant and convenient 
supply of water for stock; and all along these 
streams are fine limber belts, from oiA-fourth of 
a mile to one and a half miles in widtli, affording 
plenty of timber for fire, fencing and other uses. 
The intervals between the streams, varying in dis- 
tance from one to four miles, consists of beautiful, 
wave-like prairies just sufficiently rolling to give 
good drainage. 

There are occasional .springs of excellent water, 
and an abundance of tlie finest water for drinking, 
washing and culinary purposes, can be found in any 
portion of the county at a depth of from twelve to 
thirty feet. 

MINERALS. 

There is an abundance of excellent bitumi- 
nous coal underlying most^ if not the entire, 
county assuring an unfailing supply of fuel for all 
time. Along nearly all the streams is found a plen- 
tiful supply of blue and gray limestone of excellent 
quality for building purposes, and on Locust Creek 
there is an extensive formation of white freestone, 
of great thickness and fine quality. 



An abundance of good brick clay is found ia 
almost every part of the county, and large deposits 
of potters' clay are found in various localities. 

THE SURFACE SOIL, 

generally, consists of a splendid black vegetable 
mould, varying in thickness from eight inches to two 
feet, easy of cultivation and of the greatest fertility ; 
and this surface soil is underlaid with a subsoil 
/Varying from six or eight to thirty feet in thickness, 
and is largely composed of the carbonates and phos- 
phates of lime and other fertilizing qualities ; which 
furnish us a soil absolutely imperishable and inex- 
haustible. This subsoil when thrown to the sur- 
face, soon, under the inlluence of heat and cold, 
rain and sunshine, slacks like an ash heap, and is 
unsurpassed in its producing qualities. In the 
entire county there is little land, indeed, that can- 
not be utilized as either agricultural or grazing 
lands. 

PRODUCTIONS. 

A glance at the map of the United States will show 
that Linn County is located in tlie very heart of th3 
great grain, fruit and grazing belt of the continent. 
Corn, wheat, oats, rye, buckwheat, hemp, tobacco, 
broom-corn, sorghuni,_ niiUet, beans, potatoes, and 
.all kinds of garden vegetables, etc., are Oiere in 
abundance. Thus far, corn is king of grains, as 
will be seen by reference to the table of statistics of 
shii)nients hereto appended. It must be borne in 
mind, however, that this, is, emj)hatically, a stock- 
raising county, and that by far the greater part of 
the corn and hay iiroduced is fed to stock in the 
county. The average crop of corn, under ordinary 
cultivation, shows an average of from forty to sLxty 
bushels per acre, and wliere the culture is thorough, 
the number of bushels per acre sometimes shows a 
yield of from eighty to one hundred and ten bushels 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



179 



per a('re. Wheat, although the average croj) iss from 
tifteeu to twenty bushels per acre, is not extensively 
raised, because of the greater iirolit realized from 
corn and stock raising. Any amount of wheat, of 
finest quality, can be raised here ; rye, oats, millet, 
and buckwheat, grow splendidly, and yield abundant 
crops. A large portion of the lands are finely 
adapted for tobacco raising, and, whenever prices 
justify, large quantities, of fine quality, are pro- 
duced. 

Grasses, such as timothy, clover, red -top, herd 
grass, etc., grow in rich abundance, and for stock- 
growing purposes are exceedingly profitable. A 
large percentage of the improved farms are in 
timothy meadows, from which an average of from 
one and three-fourth tons to two and one-fourth 
tons of hay per acre are pi-oduced. Blue grass is 
indigenous to the soil; and as soon as the native 
prairie and other grasses are exi)osed to close 
grazing they yield to the blue grass, which grows 
most luxuriantly, and affords the most desirable 
and nutritious pasturage for cattle, sheep, horses 
and mules. Tlie celebrated blue grass regions of 
' Kentucky do nrft excel this splendid country, 
and a thoroughly grass and corn country like this 
must necessarily become desirable and wealthy. 

From what has been said of the soil and produc- 
tions, it necessarily follows that it must be 

A STOCK-GKOWING COUNTRY, 

and so it is. For growing live stock it has not its 
superior on the continent. Horses, mules, cattle, 
sheep and swine all do admirably, and are being 
raised in large numbers, from the finest bloods 
down through the various grades to common stock, 
and very large shipments are constantly being made 
of horses, mules, cattle and swine, to supply the 
demands elsewhere. 

With such facilities for grazing ana feeding cattle, 
the dairy is taking an important place in the county, 
and is rapidly becoming ii source of profit. It is yet 
in its infancy, but will soon become an important 
factor in the business of the country. 

FRUITS. 

Apples of the finest quality are becoming more 
abundant every year, so that now the local demand 
is fully supplied, and shipments are being made to 
supply the demand of less favored localities both 
nortli and south. It is a natural grape country, 
and many varieties are jiroduced in vast quantities, 
so that pure wines of the best quality is vinted 
here, and tons of the most luscious grapes are sold 
every year in the markets at from two to four cents 
per pound. Pears, peaches, plums, cherries, straw- 
berries and raspberries are extensively raised -of 
the finest quality, and their production may be ex- 
tended indefinitely, 

CLIMATE. 

Linn County is most happily located as to climate. 
Being exempt from the extremes of cold or heat, 
she enjoys all the advantages of a most delightful 
temperate latitude. It occupies a mean altitude of 
about nine hundred feet, hence is not subjected to 
the piercing wintry blasts experienced on the more 
elevated plains fartlier west, and is exempt from 



miasmatic influences; pulmonary diseases are 
never begotten here, and are never seen, except in 
cases where the seed was sown in other climes. No 
l^urer, sweetei-, fresher air was ever breathed by 
human lungs than' that which fans tlie i)rairie 
slopes of this county. 

RAILROADS. 

Running through the county from east to west is 
the old reliable Hannibal & St. Jose])h Railroad, 
giving direct communication with the Mississippi 
River at Hannibal and Quincy, and connecting with 
the great, net-work of railroads diverging from 
those points south, east and north ; and to the west 
with the Missouri River, and with the great system 
of railroads diverging from Kansas City and St. 
Josepli. She also has the Burlington & South- 
western Railroad, ci-ossingthe county from north to 
south. This important road is already completed 
from Burlington, Iowa, to Laclede, in this county, 
and will, most likely, be speedily completed twelve 
miles further soutli, so as to connect with St. Louis 
& Omaha Railroad at Cunningham, in Chariton 
County, thus giving direct communication with 
Chicago and St. Louis 

TOWNS. 

The city of Brookfleld is ths most important on 
the Hannibal & St. Josejih Railroad, it is centrally 
located, has about S,000 inhaljitauts and does a very 
large business in shipping live sto<;k and agricult- 
ural products. Four miles east of Brookfleld is the 
thriving village of St. Catherine, and six miles fur- 
ther east is the live town of Bucklin, both of which 
do a fine business. Five miles west of Brookfleld is 
Laclede, at the junction of the Hannibal & St. 
Joseph Railroad and the Burlington & Southwestern 
Railroad, which is a fine shipping and Inisiness 
town; and six miles further west is the thrifty 
business town of Meadville. On the Burlington & 
Southwestern Railroad, near tlie center of the 
county, north and south, is the important town of 
Linneus, the county seat, a fine business place and 
a good shipping point. Near tlie line of the county is 
Browning, a young town of great thrift and business 
energy on the Burlington & Southwestern Railroad- 
Hence it will be seen that Linn County is well sup- 
plied with facilities for communicating with the 
great business centers in all directions. 

THE PEOPLE. 

Linn County contains about 20,000 inhabitants. 
About one -half of the population are from the 
Northern and Eastern States, and the residue are 
from Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee or are 
native born. They are of the true make- uj) hospi- 
table, peaceable, industrious, coarteous and possess 
indomitable energy and thrift; and in intelligence 
and true moral worth will compare favorably ^^■ith 
any community in any locality'-, all of which is fully 
attested by her one hundred and fourteen tasteful 
school houses, and by tlie neat and attractive 
churches found in every neighborhood in the county. 
She is justly proud of her many churches and her 
noble, well supported free schools, affording the 
finest facilities for a gotjd education, and thorough 
moral training to the risinj; generation. Tliev are 



180 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



pre-eminently a peaceable and law-abiding people, 
and no community can be found wliere every class 
is more thorouglily protected in their person and 
property than are tlie citizens lujre. 

PRICE OF LANDS. 

Llnimproved lands, from medium to the finest 
quality, can be had at from tbrec to ten dollars per 
acre, depending on location and advantages; and 
good improved farms, Avith comfortable houses, 
barns and orchards, can be had at prices varying 
from, seven to twenty dollars per acre. Persons 
desinng good stock farms, of from 300 to 15,000 acres 
in body, can be most admirably suited in this 
county. 

BONDED DEBT. 

.^inn County has no bonded indebtedness, and 
only a small floating indebtedness. The school 
building bonds are nearly all paid off, and, with the 
exception of tliree or four townships, thei-e is no 
raUroad indebtedness. 



STATISTICS. 

Wheat shipped bushels, 31,7(» 

Corn " " 341,000 

Corn in store... " 15,000 

Oatssliipped " 06,000 

Beans " " 980 

Millet seed sliipped " 900 

Timothy '• " " 3,800 

Hay sliipped tons, 2,700 

Wool " pounds, .55,000 

Horses " head, 313 

Mules " " 187 

Hogs ' " 15,210 

Cattle " " 1,716 

Sheep " " 437 

These shipments are fi-om the city of Broolifleld 
alone. Taking tlie seven other railroad towns in 
the coimty togetlier, tlie shipments would be much 
enlarged. 

The value of real estate, horses, mules, cattle, 
sheep, swine and other property, in the aggregate, 
amounts to $3,600,000, as shown by the assessment of 
1879. 



LIVINGSTON COUNTY. 



Livingston County, one of the most central coun- 
ties of the State, was formerly a part of Chariton 
and Carroll Counties, but the boundaries were 
fixed in 1837, and tlie count}' named in honor of 
Edward Livingston, Secretary of State under Presi- 
dent Jackson. 

TOPOGKAPIIY, CLIMATE AND SOIL — MIN- 
ERALS. 

Livingston County is the heart of the Grand River 
Valley, it lies in the center from north to south of 
the gi-'.at middle belt of the Union— a strip of coun- 
try about four hundred miles wide, reaching from 
ocetin to ocean, wherein the agriculture, stock, fruit 
and dairy husbandry, commerce, moral and intel- 
lectual culture, railway life and population, have 
rcaclK'd their liighcst development. The great com- 
mercial and railway centers, the finest fruits and 
the strongest, densest population of the American 
continent i.s found in this belt. Here is the equable 
mean between the northern and ^southern extremes 
of temperature. In Livingston County they have 
the mild climate of Maryland, >(orthern Kentucky 
and Southern Ohio— such a climate, with a mean 
elevation of nine hundred feet, gives a high aver- 
age of health. The malaria, with its consequences, 
once the dread of the immigrant, is fast disappear- 
ing, and one can scarcely ever hear of chills and 
fever. Three-fourths of the county is high, rolling 
prairie and gently rolling groves of timber. The 
remaining part, bottom lands, is exceedingly rich, 
and can be reduced to a high state of cultivation. 
It is, indeed, a fair commanding land, quite as rich 



in {esthetic charms as in its wonderful latent and 
undeveloped forces of agi-iculture. It is a finely 
watered county; in the northwest part of the county 
they .have the east and west forks of Grand River, 
Shoal Creek, Indian and Lake Creeks, in the forks; 
Mound and Muddy Creeks in the southwest; Honey 
Creek in the northeast, and Medicine and Parsons 
in the southeast. The forks of Grand Kiver, Shoal 
Creek, and Medicine, have mills erected upon them. 
Five of them have flouring mills. There are six 
steam flouring mills in the county, and twelve steam 
saw mills. About twenty-five per cent, of the terri- 
tory is timber. The usual growth and quality of 
western lands in the bottoms is cottouwood, syca- 
more, elm, ash, maple, black walnut, pin and burr 
oak, hickory and pecan; on the uplands, white and 
black oak, hickory and pin oak. 

Coal crops out along the bluffs or Grand River and 
creeks that empty therein, in stratas of from sixteen 
to twenty inches. The blue limestone is abundant 
in .the south part of the county. The piers of the 
bridge at Bedford arc of this stone, and are i>ro- 
nounced by judges to be of a very superior quality. 
South of Grand River is a limestone country, whicli 
is said to be the finest of soil for corn, tobacco and 
flax. East and north of Grand River you meet wi'th 
but little stone, but the subsoil is clay of black 
mould, mostly decomposed vegetable matter, of 
course it is very strong in i)roductive elements as 
the rank vegetation everywhere indicates. There are 
numerous instances where twenty-live or thirty 
crops of c'orn are taken from tlie same field in as 
many successive years. 



Band-Book of Missouri. 



181 



The subsoil is a seemingly impervious cl;u% but it 
is wholly uiililie the heavy, dead, unmanageable red 
and blue clays of the Ohio, New York and Canada 
subsoils, ))eing largely composed of silicious mat- 
ter, lime and magnesia carbonate, lime phosphate 
and organic matter, and is nearly identical with tlie 
lacustrine deposits of the Missouri River tdopes of 
Northwestern Missouri, Southeastern Kansas, West- 
ern Iowa, eastern Nebrask^and the world famous 
loess deposits of the Rhine, Nile, and minor Swiss 
valleys — it slacks to the loose, llexible consistency 
of alluvium on exposure to the frost and air, is abso- 
lutely imperishable as an element of fertility, and 
forms the finest and most enduring basis for grasses, 
fruits and grains known to the world of agriculture. 

There is not a more natural blue grass country in 
the world. It is sweeping over prairie, woodland, 
field and lawn, eating out everything that comes in 
its way. Timothy grass is the favorite for meadows ; 
they are resplendent with the richest, rankest, most 
nutritious growth to be found anywhere in the wide 
kingdohi of grasses. 

Timothy seed is becoming an important staple 
here, a single house shipping 10,000 bushals an 
nually, and about 30,000 bushels of flax seed. Flax 
is largely raised in the south and west part of the 
county. 

FRUIT CULTURE. 

Fruit-growing is a great success here, especially 
apples ; some varieties, particularlj-Rawles' Janette, 
Ben Davis and Minter Pearmain, excel the same va- 
rieties thaf'are grown in the East. Pears of some 
varieries never fail. Peaches do well if not killed 
l)y late frosts. Cherries of hardy varieties never 
fail. The grape, lately introduced in the country, 
surpasses all expectations and its culture is largely 
on the increase; and this country may l)e made as 
famous for grapes as Alsace, Lorraine and Baden, 
the loess of the subsoil forming a splendid basis for 
this industry. Small garden fruits, such as currants, 
gooseberries, strawberries and raspberries, do well. 

POPULATION AND GENERAL STATISTICS. 

The population of the county in 1840 was 1,32.5; in 
1850,4,247; in 1860,4,417; in 1870,16,730; in 1876,18,- 
074 ; it is now fully 20,000. Of the population in 1870, 
15,744 were white, and 956 colored; 8,793 male, and 
7,937 female; 15,376 native (6,567 born in Missouri), 
and 1,354 foreign. There are 7,076 school children 
between the ages of six and twenty- one. The coun- 
ty has a permanent school fund of $130,000. The val- 
uation of real estate is $2,894,379; of personal prop- 
erty, $1,069,655. In 1876 there were 7,675 horses in the 
county; 1,705 mules; 20,321 cattle; 12,269 sheep; 32,- 
068 hogs; 131,111 bushels T)f wheat ; 1,921,991 bushels 
of corn; 211,645 bushels of oats; 41,200 bushels of rye; 
34,935 pounds of wool raised, and 1,471,998 pounds of 
tobacco. It is safe to say that since 1876 the amount 
of wheat grown has been doubled, and all other pro- 
ducts greatly increased. At the present time the 
acreage of wheat is far greater than ever before. 

SCHOOLS AND FINANCIAL MATTERS. 

The total assessed value for school purposes is 
$4,500,000. This includes the Hannibal & St. Joseph 
Railroad property, not taxed for other pift-poses. 

The population of Livingston County is about 20,- 



000. There are school childi-en between six years 
and Wenty years of age : Males , 3,490 ; females , 3,480 ; 
colored males, 214; colored females, 207; making 
7,391. 

There are ninety-five public district school houses, 
mostly frame, well furnished. The levy for taxes, 
1879, for State and county, is ninety cents on the one 
hundred dollars ; for railroad tax, fifty cents ; school 
tax, thirty-five cents; making in all one and one- 
quarter per cent. The railroad debt is about $75,000 
and will be Miped out in a few years. 

PRINCIPAL TOWNS AND SHIPPING 
FACILITIES. 

Chillicothe, the county seat of Livingston County, 
is destined to be the great railroad center of North 
Missouri. The old reliable Hannibal & St. Joseph 
Raili-oad runs through it nearly on an east and west 
line. The Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway is 
completed, and passes through Chillicothe, and is 
the shortest route from Omaha to St. Louis by sev- 
enty miles. A survey is now progressing for the 
extension of the Chicago & Burlington Railroad to 
Kansas City. One of the surveys passes through 
ChiUicothe, and is by far the shortest and best 
route. Chillicothe would be a fine feeder for Chi- 
cago freight. The Chillicothe & Des Moines City 
Railroad is graded and bridged to Trenton, and will 
be built before many years. With these competing 
lines of one hundred miles of railroad in this fav- 
ored count}', the producers and traders can com- 
mand the best markets east, west, north or south, 
and secure the most favored rates of transpor- 
tation. 

Grand River was declared by the United States 
deputy surveyors a navigable stream throughout 
the entire county, and is therefore a public high- 
way, and when Eads' jetty system proves to be, 
which it will, a success, its theory may not confine 
itself to the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, but its 
results may be pushed into and through this county, 
and slack water navigation may bear upon its crest 
barges of a hundred tons, moving on toward the 
great commerce of the world in obedience to the 
natural laws of trade, filling its place in the progress 
of things marked out by its unalterable destiny. 

Utica is situated on the Grand River six miles 
west of Chillicothe, on the Hannibal & St. Joseph 
Railroad, and is a thriving business place. The town 
contains about 700 inhabitants, a Baptist, Episcopal, 
Methodist, Congregational and Catholic church, 
and a large brick school building in which is em- 
ployed a corps of four teachers. 

Twelve miles west of Chillicothe, near the western 
boundary of Livingston, on the line of the Hannibal 
& St. Joseph Railroad, nestles the beautiful little 
village of Mooresville— unpretentious in appearance, 
but nevertheless a stirring little town of some 200 
inhabitants. 

In a business point of view, Mooresville compares 
favorably with the best town in the county. 

Avalon, an enterprising, flourishing village of 
about 200 inhabitants, is situated two miles east of 
the center of the township of the same name, on i 
mound which rises gradually to a height consider- 
al)ly above the surrounding country. It has two 
churches (United Brethren and Presbyterian), two 



182 



Hand- Book of Missouri. 



physicians and one dentist, but no saloons — hence, 
no lawyers. 

Avalon Academy, a large brick building, Jifty-two 
by sixty-two feet, two stories high, is situated just 
at the nortli side of tiie village. 

Situated niue niiles east of Chillicothe tlie county 
seat of Livingston County, is found the thriving 
little village of Wheeling, on the line of the Hanni- 
bal & St. Joseph Railroad. The population num- 
bers about 250. In the immediate vicinity of the 
village are some very fine tracts of land. There is 
water, coal and timber in abundance, and all of 
easy access. The soil is excellent, and farms aver- 
age from fortj' to one hundred and .sixty acres. The 
price of land varies from eight to twenty-live dol- 
lars per acre, according to location, quality and 
improvenlents. 

The live, enterprising toyfjx of Dawn is situated 
on Slioal Greek, six miles south of Utica and eleven 
miles southwest of Chillicothe, in Mound Township. 
It is an unusually bright, thriving little place, noted 
for its extensive trade in all kinds of farm products, 
tlie enterprise of its business men and its good 
school. There is but one church building — the 
Presbyterian — but its doors are open to all denomi- 
nations. 

Bedford, situated jn the southeast part of Living- 
ston County, is a village of 400 or 500 inhabitants, 
and lies on the south bank of Grand River on un- 
dulfiting prairie land, aboutone mile from the depot 
of flie Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway, a direct 
line from St. Louis, Missouri, to Omaha, Nebraska. 
1\ is about twelve miles southeast of Chillicothe and 
surrounded by as fine an agricultural region as is to 
be found in Nortli Missouri. 

Farmersville is a sprightly little vUlage, situated 
north of Chillicothe fourteen miles on the State 
road leading to Trenton in Grundy County. Its in- 
habitants number about 100 souls, and are an ener- 
getic go-ahead class of people, coming mostly from 
Northern and Eastern States. The town is located 
in a tbickly settled country, in the midst of most 
beautiful and fertile lands. 

Spring Hill, the principal town and post-office of 
Jackson township, is an old place, and was for many 
years a point of considerable importance. It how- 
ever contains several business houses, blacksmith 



shops, etc., and is the center of a considerable locai 
trade. 

Jimtown is situated at either end of tlie great iron 
bridge recently built aci'oss Grand River, four miles 
south of Chillicothe, and is a prosperous village. 

Ludlow is one of the unpretentious post-offices of 
Livingaton County. It is surrounded with excel- 
lent farming lands, and the citizens invite the emi- 
grant to give the couni^y a passing glance in their 
search for a pleasant home. 

PRICES OF LANDS. 

Unimproved lands in this county range in price 
from two dollars and fifty cents to twelve dollars 
per acre, whOe farms range from ten to twenty 
dollars per acre, while an occasional farm with 
superior improvements and specially well located 
at twenty-five to thirty dollars per acre. 

PRODUCTIVENESS. 

Corn, about seventy bushels ; of wheat, to the acre, 
twenty ; of oats, forty ; rye, buckwheat and barley do 
well, but are not much grown. Flax does well and 
yields about ten or twelve bushels of seed to the 
acre. Navy, castor and other beans yield largely 
and are profitable. The bulk of the wheat sold this 
year brought ninety cents to one dollar per bushel. 
Corn is worth twenty-five cents ; oats, twenty cents. 

SUMMARY AND INDUCEMENTS TO IMMI- 



GRANTS. 



\ 



There is no county in the State that has a brighter 
future before it than Livingston. The two compet- 
ing roads are of immense advantage. The compe- 
tition enables the merchants to get low freights, 
and consequently to sell goods lower than any other 
town within fifty miles of Chillicothe ; it also enables 
dealers in stock, grain and all kinds of farm prO' 
ducts to pay farmers a higher price for whatever he 
buys of them than they can get anywhere within 
fifty miles of the county seat. With one or two 
other competing roads the advantages of Living- 
ston County in this respect will be greatly improved. 
The people have the (-hoice of St. Louis and Chicago 
as markets. 



Mcdonald county. 



The county of McDonald is the extreme south- 
western one in the State of Missouri. It is bounded 
on the east by Barry County, on the north by New- 
ton, on the south by Benton County, Arkansas, and 
on the west by the CherokeeTNation. 

PHYSICAL FEATURES. 

The surface of the county is diversified, being in 
places rolling and billy, with much bottom lands on 
the creeks and fertile valleys. In the four diiferent 



corners of the county there are fine areas of 
praii'ies, averaging about a township to each local- 
ity. There are also extensive plats of what are called 
flat wood lands, which are exceedingly fertile. 

The county is supplied with a dense growth of 
timber, consisting of pine, cedar, all the oaks, hick- 
ory, walnut, wild cherry, sycamore, ash, etc. 

Tlie county is well watered. Springs of the purest 
water, sonle of them possessing medicinal qualities, 
are numerous. There are many beautiful streams 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



183 



traversing the county, furnishing an abundance of 
stocli water, and supplying fine flsli and excellent 
sport to the disciples of Izaac Walton. The water- 
power is good, and to a limited extent has been 
utilized in the erection of many good saw and grist 
mills. 

THE CLIMATE. 

The climate is unsurp^sed, the winters being 
mild and short, stock requiring but little feeding or 
care. 

SOIL AND PllODUCTIONS. 

The soil and climate of the county favor the most 
diversified culture, and herein lies the great advant- 
age which this county offers. The two extremes of 
northern and southern products, to -wit, corn and 
cotton, are produced in paying quantities. Between 
these two extremes everything usually grown by 
farmers can be cultivated profitably. Wlieat, oats, 
tobacco, flax, the tame grasses, castor beans, pota- 
toes and all garden products are profitably raised. 
Withi^iich a diversified production, it will at once 
be seen that the owner of even a small farm can 
furnish himself and family with all they materially 
require, with but little expenditure except his own 
labor. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

Horses, mules, cattle, sheep and hogs are raised 
to considerable extent, and with small outlay or at- 
tention. 

The native range and mast is excellent and abun- 
dant, and being free, is no inconsiderable item in the 
capital of the stock-grower. 



FRUITS. 

Fruit of all kinds grows luxuriently and mature in 
richest flavor. Grapes, both wild and tame, are 
produced in enormous quantities and of the finest 
varieties. 

EXPORTS. 

Wheat, tobacco and fruit — of the latter apples 
principally — are sold in large quantities for export. 
Cattle, sheep and hogs are also i-aised and shipped 
largely. 

Neosho, twenty- two miles distant from Pineville 
(the county seat), on the St. Louis & San Francisco 
Railway, is the principal shipping point for the 
county. • 

EDUCATIONAL. 

Good school houses are built, and schools main- 
tained ih almost every sub-district in the county. 
The moral tone of the county is good. There is not 
at this writing a single licensed dramshop in the 
county. 

LAND PRICES. 

There are over 100,000 acres of improved and 
inclosed land in the county. Farms can be pur- 
chased at from five to twenty dollars per acre ; un- 
improved lands at from two to ten dollars. 
Considerable Government lands are yet subject to 
homestead entry. The St. Louis & San Francisco 
Railway owns near 100,000 acres of land, which is in 
market, and is being sold cheap and on favorable 
terms. 

POPULATION AND IMMIGRATION. 

The population of the county is thought to be at 
least 8,000. Immigration is now setting in favor- 
ably, and the class of settlers all that can be 
desired. 



MACON COUNTY. 



The County of Macon forms part of northern Mis- 
souri, and is situated between the Mississippi and 
Missouri Rivers, near the center of tlie State, east 
and west. 

In respect to 

LOCATION, CLIMATE AND TOPOGRAPHY, 

Macon County is fortunate, and should be especially 
attractive to the immigrant. Bounded by the fair, 
fertile and highly developed counties of Shelby, 
Knox, Adair, Sullivan, Linn, Chariton, and Ran- 
dolph, teeming with intelligent, orderly and pro- 
gressive populations, is, by reason of its suiTound- 
ings, the center of one of the most attractive dis- 
tricts in the Great South^yest. A dry atmosphere, 
good natural drainage, and pure water, the great 
conditions of uniform health and long-life, are 
found to exist here in a remarkable degree. The 
county is about equally divided between prairie and 
timber land, and so advantageously located as to 
render it possible for every farm to contain both 



prairie and timber^a/most important item to note. 
There is but little waste land in the county, all 
being susceptible of cultivation or the growth of the 
various grasses. 

TIMBER AND STONE. 

AH the different varieties of oak, walnut, ash, 
elm, maple, sycamore, hickory and other woods are 
abundant. Oak timber finds a ready sale for local 
manufacturing pui-poses. Fully 150,000 railway ties 
ai-e shipped annually. For several years past, quite 
a large quantity of walnut timber has been shipped 
to Eastern manufactories. White sandstone and 
blue limestone are abundant in many parts of the 

county. 

*■ 
PERPETUAL WATER. 

The Chariton River, with its tributaries; the nn- 
merous and permanent artificial ponds, and splendid 
wells and cisterns, furnish every portion of the 
county with an unfailing supply of pure water. 



184 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



THE SOILS. 

The dark soil, with a yellowish subsoil, predomi- 
nates. All know the productive capacity of the 
black soil. This subsoil, when exposed to the 
chemical action of the elements, becomes equally 
as productive, and far more durable than the black 
alluvial soil; and as a basis for fruits and grasses, 
and, in fact, for every variety of vegetable produc- 
tion grown in this latitude, is remarkably rich, ver- 
satile and lasting. 

PRINCIPAL PRODUCTS. 

The princi^jal products of the county are corn, 
tobacco and the different grasses. Although wheat, 
and all other kinds of small grain, can be grown 
successfully, corn, tobacco and the grasses being 
the most profitable crops, more attention 'has been 
paid to them. It is estimated, upon good authority, 
that the corn crop of Macon County last year 
amounted to the immense yield of about 4,550,000 
bushels— amount exported, 3,640,000 bushels; sur- 
plus not sold, 910,000 bushels. This estimate, of 
course, does not embrace the large amount of corn 
already fed to stock by the farmers and feeders of 
the county. The price paid for corn was twenty- 
six cents per bushel, delivered at the elevator. 
Thus it will be seen that the farmers of the county 
have realized already for the corn crop of last 
season the sum of $140,000. 

TOBACCO. 

Very much of the soil of the county is well adapted 
to tlie growth of tobacco. The production of tobacco 
is one of the most extensive and profitable indus- 
tries of the county, and not interfering in the least 
with llie cultivation of other crops. From 3,000,000 
to 3,000,000 pounds of this great staple are annually 
grown in the county. In 1876 about $150,000 was paid 
to the tobacco growers of the county for the crop of 
that year. The average yield is about eight hundred 
pounds per acre;' price from five to ten dollars per 
hundred pounds. 

\VIIKAT. 

Wheat until recently has only been grown to a 
limited extent; but, at llie Iqst harvest, a very fair 
cro)) of wheat was gathered, thereby demonstrating 
that by proper cultivation this county will produce 
wheat as fine in quality and of as large average 
yield as most wheat-growing sections. 

THE GRASSES. 

Macon County is the natural home of the grasses, 
especially blue grass. Next to the coals, the blue 
grass, clover and timotliy yields are the greatest 
source of Avealth the county possesses. Blue grass 
is found everywhere and grows in great luxuriance. 
The meadows and pastures afiord splendid grazing 
for at least ten months of the year, and yield more 
net prolit than all the grain fields of the county. 
Tlie grass being sweet and strong, the water pure 
and plenteous, and stock requiring but little care; 
aud as it costs but from fifteen to twenty cents per 
bushel to grow corn for winter feeding, and the 
great live stock nuirkets of Chicago and St. Louis 
can be reached in a few hours by rail, and live flocks 



and herds can be kept in good condition nearly tlie 
year around on lands that cost not more than from 
two to ten dollars per acre, every condition essen- 
tial to successful and profitable stock-growing 
conspire to render Macon (bounty a first-class stock 
county.' 

THE HAY CROP. 

It is estimated that the hay crop of tins county 
last year amounted to 2,300 tons ;. crop shipped, 1,900- 
tons; average price paid, $7.50 per ton; crop on 
hand, 300 tons ; pi-ice contracted at, $6.00 per ton. 

EXPORTS OF BUTTER AND EGGS. 

It appears from carefully prepared estimates fur- 
nished by grocers and dealers, that the butter and 
eggs shipped from the county during last fall and 
winter brought about $25,000. Average price paid 
the producer for butter was fifteen cents j)er pound. 
Average price paid for eggs was eight and one-third 
cents per dozen. This is no smaU^tem in the sum 
total of a farmer's income. 

A SHEEP COUNTRY. -, 

This is a capital sheep country. It costs but little 
to raise sheep here. They do well on the natural 
pastures nearly the whole year round, and on lands 
too, that cost less to own than the annual rental of 
a New England or Northern farm. Wool, mutton 
and surplus stock sheep, command a good price. 
For all kinds of stock and for dairy purposes, this 
section'is uuexceled. Considerable attention is be- 
ing devoted to introducing and breeding blooded 
stock. 

LIVE STOCK EXPORTS. 

When it is remembered that fully one -half of the 
county is still uncultivated, and that not one-fourth 
of its grass and grain-growing resources are yet 
developed, the following showing of live stock ship- 
ments is a splendid commentary upon the stock- 
growing capacity of a partially developed country: 
Yearly shipment of fat cattle and 

swine f car loads, 1,500 

Y'early export of fat sheep head, 7,000 

" .stock sheep " 2,000 

" " " horses and mules " 3,000 

Amount realized l)y the farmers and feeders of the 
county, $1,000,000. 

FRUIT-GROWING. 

Location, soil, climate, a good home market, dose 
proximity to foreign markets by rapid transit, ren- 
ders this a good fruit-growing section. Apples, 
pears, cherries and grapes succeed well and never 
fail. Peaches are not a certain crop— occasionally 
the yield is abundant and excellent. Small fruits, 
such as strawberries, gooseberries, blackberries, 
raspberries and currants rarely ever fail. 

There were shipped last season from the county, 
about 43,000 bushels of apples. Price paid the growei-, 
fifty cents per bushel. • 

COAL AND COAL MINING. 

Asidefrom its adaptability forgeneral agricultxire, 
stock-raising and fruit-growing, Macon County is 
immensely rich in its inexhaustible deposits of coal. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



185 



The following facts speak for themseU'CS. The coal 
veins average about five feet in thickness. It is 
estimated by experienced miners that five hundred 
out of the eight hundred square miles of the county 
are underlaid with coal of a splendid quality. 
While coal mining is yet in its infancy, there are 
several mines in successful operation employing 
five hundred men. The monthly coal product of 
this county is about nine thousand tliree hundred 
tons or seven hundred and seventy-iive car loads. 
It is often the case in the Eastern States that coal 
lands have no value aside from the coal, but such is 
not the case in Missouri. Land overlaying coal 
beds is often as rich and productive as any other 
land»in the surrounding country. The coal deposits 
of Macon County are an inviting field for capitalists 
and when developed will alone be a source of great 
wealth to the county. , 

EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES. 

The public school is to be found in every school 
district and all the schools are in a floui-ishing 
condition. A permanent reserve fund with the 
interest thereon, the county apportionment from the 
State, the county fines, and a direct tax, afford a 
splendid basis and sure guarantee for the universal 
and thorough common school education of the 
people. 

ROADS AND BRIDGES. 

Every important stream in the county has a good 
bridge over it, and tlie roads generally are well 
cared for. 

FINANCIAL CONDITION. 

The financial condition of the county is good, and 
the taxes low. The State, county and railroad 
tax altogether is only ninety- five cents on the one 
hundred dollars, and the school tax (outside the 
"special school district" of Macon City — that is, 
in the rural districts— over the county generally) is 
only twenty cents on the one hundred dollars — 
making the small sum total tax one dollar and 
fifteen cents per one hundred dollars. 

TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETS. 

The railroad facilities in the county are quite ex- 
tensive, and afford the jneans of easy access to all 
the best markets by rapid transit. T.he Hannibal & 
St. Joseph Railroad and the Wabash, St. Louis & 
Pacific Railway, each transverse the county cen- 
trally from east to west and from south to north, 
crossing each other at Macon City, the county soat. 

CHEAP LANDS. 

Lands are astonishingly cheap in Macon CJounty. 
Good improved farms can be had for fi'om seven to 
eighteen dollars per acre. Good farm inii)rovements 
are daily offered at cost, with the land thrown in. 
Thousands of Eastern men are passing through 
Missouri to the treeless, cheerless, grasshopper 
plains of Kansas, to pay more for wild lands than 
the price asked for rich, fairly improved farms in 
Macon County, where timber, perennial grasses, 
abundant pure water, fruits, a good climate, 
schools, churches, markets, railways — in a word. 



where everything that can make life enjoyable 
awaits the immigrant. 

Besides these improved and unimproved lands 
held by private individuals, for sale at great bargains, 
and to be had on easy terms, the Hannibal & St. 
Joseph Railroad has about 50,000 acres on the market 
at from two to ten dollars per acre. Terms: One- 
sixth of the purchase money down, and the balance 
in six years at six per cent, interest. These lands 
embrace some finely improved farms that have 
fallen back to the railroad company by reason of 
non-payment of the purchase money. Energetic 
men could easily pay for these farms with the pro- 
ceeds of two average crops. 

TOWNS OP THE COUNTY. 

Want of space precludes as extended a notice of 
the towns of the county as their growing importance 
and mei-its deserve. The chief town and commer- 
cial center of the county is Macon City, the county 
seat, a well located and nicely improved place of 
about 4,000 inhabitants. This beautiful and thriving 
little city is situated at the crossing of the Hannibal 
& St. Joseph Railroad and the Wabash, St. Louis & 
Pacific Railway, one hundred and sixty-nine miles 
northwest of St. Louis and one hundred and ten 
east of St. Joseph. It has admirable natural drain- 
age, a perpetual supply of pure water, is regularly 
laid out, and the principal streets are macadamized. 
The place contains a number of large and substan- 
tial business structures and handsome residence^. 
Its police regulations are excellent and its social 
life ordei-ly and most enjoyable. The town has 
made much valuable improvement during the last 
fall and winter— the most important of which is the 
erection of a fine hotel and business structure of 
imposing dimensions and architecture, approxi- 
mating a cost of $35,000, and of an elevator at a cost 
of perhaps $8,000. During the past fall and winter 
' there has been a general business revival in all tlie 
departments of trade, not only in Macon City, but in 
all the towns of the county. A large, well built and 
conveniently arranged court house, two very com- 
fortable and commodious public school buildings, 
for the accommodation of the white and colored 
children, a flourishing private academy, twelve 
handsome church edifices, afford superior legal, 
educational, and religious facilities. 

SOCIAL. 

Three M^eekly newspapers, the "Republican, 
"Register" and "Greenback," a semi-monthly re- 
ligious periodical, and the "Missouri Temperance 
Advocate," all being well supported, attest the fact 
that the people of Macon City aud surrounding 
country ai'e a reading people. 

The Masonic, Odd Fellows, Temperance and other 
societies, being well sustained, gives abundant evi- 
dence that Macon peoi)le are also a benevolent and 
sober people. 

Any description of Macon f !ity, however well writ - 
ten, would be incomplete were a notice of its eleva- 
tor omitted— a substsuitial structure Mith a storage 
capacity of 20,000 bushels, capable of shelling 12.000 
bushels of corn per day, and is completely furnisjicd 
with all the modern machinery and facilities. 

Macon City boasts of a large, excellent and well 



18U 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



conducted manufactoiy of wagons aud buggies. A 
large amount of work was turned out last year. The 
work is first-class and commauds ready sale. jUso, 
of a plow factory, a flour mill aud a saw mill. 

Macon City, with its healthful location, excellent 
Jacilities for transportation, surrounded by a good 
agricultural, stock aud fruit country, its close 
proximity to vast deposits of coal, its water-power 



and great variety of fine timber, possesses all the 
elements essential to make it a great manufacturing 
town as well as a commercial center. 

La Plata, Callao, Bevier, Xew Cambria, Atlanta 
and Sue City are thriving towns containing from 
500 to 1,500 inhabitants. Have good school and 
church privileges, good society and surrounded by a 
good agricultural country, aud close to markets. 



MADISON COUNTY. 



Madison County is situated in the southeastern 
portion of the State, one hundred miles south of St. 
Louis, on the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern 
Railway— bounded north by St. Francois County, 
east by Perry and.Bollinger, south by Bollinger and 
Wayne and west by Iron County, and contains 
295,550 acres. 

The population in 1820, was 2,047; in 1830, 2,371; in 
1840, 3,395 ; in 1850, 6,003 ; in 1860, 5,604 ; in 1870, 5,849, 
<jf whom 5,688 were white and 159 colored; 3,015 
male and 2,834 female ; 5,471 native (3,869 born in 
Missouri) , and 378 foreigners ; in 1876, 8,518, of whom 
8,264 were white and 254 colored. By the census of 
1876, 2,076 horses, 841 mules, 5,533 cattle, 4,752 sheep, 
and 13,102 hogs were enumerated. The population 
of tlie county at the present time is from 10,000 to 
12,000 people. 

PHYSICAL FEATURES. 

The surface of the county is very rough and 
broken, with granite and porphyry hills, some of 
which rise to a height of seven hundred feet above 
the level of the St. Francois River. These are 
often narrow, irregular and precipitous— some of 
them, as it were, forming vast pyramids, from the 
summits of Which a view of the county is grand 
beyond description; the mountains seem to hide 
from view the valleys beneath; the eye seems to 
rest on nothing but a succession of mountains, 
having a blueish cast. The productive lands may 
be divided into three classes : Fh-st, tlie table lands 
which are not as elevated as tlie porphyritic moun- 
tains. They are not rich as to soil, but unsurpassed 
for orchards and vineyards, being abovfe the fogs 
and frosts. Second, are uplands or "second bot- 
tom," which have a clay foundation above the 
overflow, and are esteemed as most valuable lauds. 
The soil along the streams is mostly of a sandy 
loam, and quite i)roductive, but subject to overflows. 
Timber of many varieties may be found in Madison 
County, such as black and white walnut, white, 
black, red, Spanish, post and_, burr oak, black-jack, 
black and sweet gum, soft and hard maple, wild 
cherry and hackberry, white and red hickory, yellow 
and pitch pine, red cedar, redbud, bircli, liornbeam, 
sassafras, ijawpaw, sycamore, white and red elm, 
linn, sumac— in fact, endless varieties of shrubs. 



When this county was first settled, the pine forests 
were uusui-passed. The table laud had compara- 
tively no timber, but was covered with the finest 
grass, which gave sustenance to wild and domestic 
animals in winter and summer. Tlie creek and 
river bottoms Were covered with cane-brakes. The 
vast forests of pine liave been culled and used for 
lumber and charcoal, yet the whole surface at this 
time (except the portion in cultivation) is well set 
with yoiing timber which, if taken care of, will, at 
no distant period, be valuable. There are evidently 
more cord feet of timber on the lands at this time 
than existed at any former period. The Castor 
River, on the eastern border of the county, runs in 
a southern direction through the entire length, and 
loses itself in the swamp counties. It is a beautiful 
stream of pure water, fed by living springs and 
small tributaries, such as Dry and Gi-ounds' Creeks 
and Whitener's Brancli, from the east; Kelley's, 
Mouser's, Big and Shutlej-'s Creeks, from the west. 
The St. Francois River has its source in St. Francois 
County. The main prong runs through the entire 
western border of the county, and forms a junction 
with the Mississippi River in the State of Arkansas. 
The east fork, which runs near Fredericktown, is 
very crooked. It forms a junction with Big St. 
Francois some twelve miles below Fredericktown. 
The Saline, Mill, Village and Rock Creeks are tribu- 
taries of the east fork; the Muscow, of the west. 
Brewer's, Stout's, Marble and Leathei-vsood Creeks 
are tributaries of the Big St. Francois on the west 
side; Cedar, Captain's, Turkey, TSvelve Mile,Piney, 
Dry and Trace Creeks are tributaries on tlie east. 
The tributaries in Madison County only have been 
noted. These streams afi'ord excellent water-power 
for mills and machinery for manufacturing pur- 
poses, some of tliem having a fall of seventy-five 
feet to the mile. 

AGRICULTIIKAL KESOUKCES. 

Although this county is generally considered and 
recognized as a mining country and many families 
live at tlie various mines in the county, wlio are 
wliolly dependent on the farmers for tlicir br6ad- 
stulfs, moat and vegetables, yet tliousauds of bush- 
els of wlieat were shipped last season from here to 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



187 



Bt. Louis and Little ■Roclt, Avhile hundreds of cattle, 
hogs and quite a number of mules and horses were 
sent to St. Louis and other markets. _A11 of these 
products bring good prices in this county and onlr 
the surplus is shipped. These facts demonstrate 
that Madison is not only a mining but an agricul- 
tural county as ■well, and is more tlian self-sustain- 
ing, as it can and does produce more than the 
inhabitants can consume. The following are the 
number of carloads of tlie products named, shipped 
from the county during the year 1S79— this informa- 
tion is taken from the books at the different rail- 
road stations and is correct: Wheat, 116 cars ; flour, 
61-1; charcoal, 154: cedar posts, 23; live stock, -19; 
shaved hoops, 5 ; silver ore, 5 ; pig lead, 203 ; lumber, 
4; brick, 2; staves, 76; gravel, 60; railroad ties, 51; 
nickel matter, 2. 

The iirincipal productions are corn, wheat, oats 
and rye. Barley grows well. Tobacco grows as 
well as in Tennessee and Kentucky. It used to be 
cultivated and at one time was a staple product. 
The grasses grow well, such as timothy, red top and 
red clover, orchard and blue grass, the latter spread- 
ing over the country and growing- spontaneously. 
There are many orchards in the county,- but un- 
fortunately they Avere not planted on the high lands, 
consequently frosts often destroy the fruit. Grapes, 
like otlier fruit, do better on elevated land; how- 
ever, some of tlie finest grapes of the Concord 
varieties are raised in tlie low laiwls. The Catawba 
does remarkably well on the mountains. Indeed, if 
grapes have a home it must be in'Madison County. 
Tliey gi-ow wild on most all the lauds, the vines in 
many instances measuring six inches in diameter, 
climbing tall timber and resembling large cables on 
a vessel. Small fruits, such as strawberries, goose- 
berries, raspberries, blackben-ies, etc., grow well. 
Garden vegetables grow to perfection. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

Tliis <'ounty is extremely well adapted to stock- 
raising, perhaps better than any other branch of 
farming. There are tens of lliousands of acres .of 
hill laud tliat will never be inclosed, which afford 
excellent pasturage for more than half the year. 
Sheep husbandry could certainlv be made profitable. 

I'RICK OF LANDS, ETC. 

The census of 1870 gives 15,298 acres of improved 
land; 62,839 acres of wood land, besides 1,790 acres 
of other unimproved land. The price of land is 
variable, according to location, quality, etc., but is 
very cheap. Uiiimproved farming lands can be 
bought for from one to eiglit dollars per acre, and im- 
proved farms for from five to forty dollars per acre, 
jiccordiug to diaracter of land, improvements and 
location. There are quite a numboi- of small farms, 
consisting di from sixty to two liundred acres of 
land, with from tweuty-flve to one hundred aci-es in 
cultivation, surrounded with good pasturing and 
timber lands, which could be bought for from five 
hundred to two thousand dollars. Also some very 
large tracts of unimproved lands, whidi can be 
bought very reasonable. Lands known as mineral 
land vary greatly in price, according to proximity 
to jjaying mines,and the looks of the prospects at 
the surface. 



MINERAL RESOURCES. 

From the discoveries of the lead mines, oy M. 
La Motte, until 1830, mining was performed on a 
small scale. From that time to the present ATrit- 
ing the annual yield has been more than 1,0Q0,000 
pounds. The early miner threw away a quality of 
lead ore, called by the old French miners " dry 
bone." It was thought by them to be worthless. 
An intelligent German^ by the name of Louis Ilagan, 
a practical chemist, analyzed tlie ore and found it to 
be rich. It is of a whitish color. He also inti-oduced 
some valuable improvements in-smelting ores of the 
Mine La Motte domain, which embraces 24-010 acres^ 
of two-thirds in Madison and the other third 
in St. Francois County. Xearly the entire tract is val- 
uable for farming as well as mining purposes. A sin- 
gular feature of these mines is that, instead of the 
veins being in a perpendicular position, they lay in 
horizontal stratas. The metals found there consist of 
the blue, white and red lead ores, nickle, copper, 
antimony, bismuth, manganese, zinc, iron, cobalt 
and arsenic. Gold and silver are said to exist there 
too. Tlie latter statement may be taken with some 
grains of allowance. Lead does exist in such quan- 
tities as to warrant a supply for centuries to come. 
The same may be said of nickle and cobalt. There 
are other valuable paints, clays and building stone 
on the domain. This tract was confirmed in 1827, 
by act of Congress, to Messrs. Valle, Pratt, St. 
Gemme and Beauvis, and on November 6, 1836, it 
was sold by commissioners appointed by the Circuit 
Court of Madison County " oiFpetition for partition 
of lands and tenements. ' 

Lead and copper can be found in many parts of 
the county. Iron exists in great abundance, mostly 
of the brown hematite quality. There are so many 
iron deposits in the county that it would require too 
much space to describe them minutely. A consid- 
erable quantity of the ore has been shipped to St. 
Louis. There is a cojjper mine one and a half mile 
southeast of Fredericktown, which is ricli and ex- 
tensive, but has not been woi-kcd profitably owing 
to the great quantity of water. There is a copper 
mine south of Fredericktown wliicli has the appear- 
ance of being valuable. The net returns of the 
Mine La Motte Copper Mines (discovered in 1838) 
for tliree jears amounted to .f ir)O,00O. They are now 
\vorked for nickle. 

Gold and platinum are said to exist in the county, 
also German silver. Some years since considerable 
excitement was created by reported discoveries of 
silver, and during the last eighteen montlis large 
amounts of St. Louis capital has been expended iu 
opening up the mine and putting up extensive 
Avorks. It is claimed that these mines are paying 
liandsome dividends on tlie investments. No doubt 
exists in the minds of competent authorities that 
the day will come when Madison County mines will 
be of great value. 

In the county there are also quarries of granite, 
sandstone, limestone, etc., for building purposes, 
and quantities of blue and white rock, which makes 
the best of lime. Some ten miles southwest of town 
there exists vast quantities of red marble mixed 
with flint, which gives it a variegated appearance. 
On Marble Creek, a tributary of the St. Francois, 
twenty-two miles from Fredericktown, exists quan- 
tities of white liiarble. Some of it has blue streaks, 



188 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



which give it a nice appearance when polished. Clay 
M'hicli mates hard and durable brick, flre clay, kao- 
line, moulding sand, paris white, sulphur, silax, feld- 
spar, burr stone, yellow and red ochre can be found. 
Ko stone coal has yet been found. Some chemists 
say that where gray slate exists, stone coal may be 
found at a depth of one hundred feet. If this state- 
ment be correct, there is a plentiful supply. 

MANUFACXUKES. 

The manufacturing interests are embraced in a 
few smelting furnaces, ten flour and grist mills, four 
saw mills, two planing mills, the Cot-Operative Man- 
ufacturing Company, a plow factory, and a pottery; 
besides a great many artisans and skilled workmen 
in every branch of industry. 

FINANCIAL. 

The valuation of the county, per census of 1870, 
was $8,210,000. Whilst some of the peo])le are in 
debt, there are quite a number of solid men who are 
above the waves, and have lai-ge amounts invested 
in United States bonds. The county debt is only 
?8,000. 

The people have acted Avisely in not voting appro- 
priations to corporations. The merchants are all 
doing business on their own capital. Nothing of 
the mushroom style of doing business is attached to 
them. So the immigrant who seeks a home, need 
not fear to invest his means in Madison County. 

The county is penetrated by the St. Louis, Iron 
Mountain & Southenlllailway, which passes through 
the northeastern portion of the county for a distance 
of twenty-three miles. Tlie company have a depot, 
round-house and machine shops at Fredericktown. 
A great deal of yellow pine plank, stave-bolts and 
railroad ties have been shipped from Marquand, 
Cornwall and Fredericktown. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

The educational interests of this county are in a 
prosperous condition. There are forty-live sub-dis- 
tricts, and 2,875 children over six and under twenty 
years of age, who attend school four months each 
year. Besides, there are a great many being edu- 
cated at universities outside tlie county. 

TOWNS. 

Marquand, on the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & 
Southern Railway, is fourteen miles southeast of 
Fredericktown ; has three stores, one merchant miU, 
one hotel and one church (Presbyterian) ; also, one 
Missionary Baptist Church close to its limits ; popu- 
lation, 150. 

Cornwall, a station on the same railroad, seven 
miles southeast of Fredericktown, contains one 
store and Avood-yard, and used to be a shipping 
point for iron. 

Mine LaMotte, four miles north of Fredericktown 
and two and a half miles from the railroad station 
liearing its name, is a beautiful place to liv^e. It has 
one drug store, a tin shop, a restaurant, saddler 
shot), two meat markets, a hotel, two shoe shops, a 
number of private boarding houses, one smithy, two 
churches (CatholiG and I'resbyterian), two school 
houses, and a large general store. There are also 
two stores one mile, south of INIinc J^a Motte. Tlie 
company is punctual in paying its employes. There 



is also a machine siiop and a watchmaker shop there. 
The population is about 500, and the people are very 
industrious. 

Fredericktown, llie county seat, and one of the 
most thrifty towns in Missouri, is one hundred and 
five miles from St. Louis and ninety-one miles from 
Belmont, and was settled in 1821. It contains six 
churches: one Christian, one Catholic, two Metho- 
dist (one colored), and tMO Baptist (one colored), ' 
and about 3,000 inhabitants. The greater portion of 
the old settlers, some of whom are .still living, were 
Catholics. There is one large public school build- 
ing, well supplied with modern desks and apparatus, 
costing $8,000. 

There is one weekly newspaper, establislied eight 
years. Democratic in politics. 

To describe all the elegant buildings in Frederick- 
town would be unnecessary. Suffice it to say, that 
no inland toM-n with the same number of inhabitants, 
can boast of more durable and elegant buildings 
and suburban cottages; besides, the town is well 
watei-ed, wells, cisterns and living springs abound, 
and Saline Creek runs through the center of the 
town, affording water in great abundance for all 
puiljoses. There, perhaps, is not a more healthful 
place in Soutliern Missouri. It is destined, so the 
inhabitants think, to be one of those summer resorts 
for health-seekers and gentlemen of leisure, who 
know how to enjoy life. 

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 

The lirst Catholic Church in this county was 
established in Fredericktown, by Father Celeni, in 
1827. Its memljers number about 400. 

The Christian Church was organized in Madison 
County in 1812. There are three congregations in 
this county : one in Fredericktown ; Antioch Church, 
situated one and three-quarter miles east of Fred- 
ericktown, has a membership of 300, and Green. 
Chapel, situated on the St. Francois River, twenty 
miles south of Fredericktown, has a membership of 
lifty. There are nine Missionary Baptist Churches, 
with a membership of 520, and seven ordained 
ministers. There are several old Baptist churclies 
in the county. The Methodist Church (South) num- 
bers 260 members ; tlie old Episcopal Churcli (North) 
flfty. Besides, there is an organization of Congrega- 
tional Methodists. There is one Lutheran Church 
in this county, with about 200 members. 

The various orders of Masonry, Odd FeUowsliip, 
Knights of Honor, A. O. U. W., Good Temi)lars, 
etc., are strongly- represented. 

TO IMMIGRANTS. 

The climate is mild and healthful; the nights 
are cool and invigorating. Some of the landscape 
scenery is grand beyond description. The people 
are of the mediocrity ; no aristocracy. ' Every man 
is i-ated according to his real merit; and a more 
kind, whole-souled, generous people, as a body, can 
nowhere be found. They hail fi-om all the States in 
the Union, from France, Germany, England, Ireland, 
Scotland, and other countries. Taken together witli 
the lirst settlers, they form a homogeneous society, 
destined, at no distant period, to develop the vast 
and varied resources, and cause this country to 
bloom as the rose. 



Hand-Book of Missouki. 



189 



MARIES COUNTY. 



JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP. 

:\raries County is divided by the Gasconade River, 
in about equal parts, the stream flowing from a point 
south to a point about or near the same distance 
east of north through the county. The river enters 
the county on the west side of range 0, township 38, 
section 6, and flows north by east and enters Osage 
County near the west side of range 8, township 41, 
section 18. " The eastern portion of the county is 
watei-ed by the Dry Forlc of tlie Burbois and Pea- 
vine Creeks, with wide and fertile bottoms, while 
on either side, upon the high lands, Galloway's and 
Lane's prairies form the upper table lands. The 
soil is thinner than that of the low lands, but is 
good, and a large portion of it subject to cultivation, 
in fact some of the finest producing farms and best 
improvements are upon these lands. They are well 
adapted to the growing of small grain, tobacco, 
fruit and grass, easily cleared and rendered fit for 
cultivation. Besides, there are large 

DEPOSITS OF MINEKAL 

in this portion of the county, mostly iron. This 
section of the county includes all of ranges 7 and 8 
east of the Gasconade river and north of township 
line dividing 3!) and 40, including all of Peavine, 
Galloway's prairie. Dry Fork of Burbois, and about 
half of Lane's prairie, i^rovided with four post- 
offlces, two flouring mills, one woolen mill, located 
at Pay Down, near the Gasconade Itiver; also one 
store in the midst of a flourishing and thrifty Ger- 
man settlement. This section is adapted to stock 
and fruit, and, being adjacent to the Gasconade' 
Iliver, with its Ijne timber, is now furnishing con- 
siderable lumber, which is floated out of the Gascon- 
ade. The growing of hogs is a profitable business, 
owing to the immense j'ield of corn from the river 
farms in this section of country. 

This portion, more particularly M'atei-ed by the 
Drj- Fork of the Burbois and Peavine, includes the 
drainage from Lane's Prairie and Galloway's 
Prairie, all of which is settled 1)y a thrifty set of 
farmers. Tlie unsettled tillable cheap lands in this 
region arc capable of sustaining a ])opulation twenty 
times greater than the present. The two streams, 
P-cuvine and Burbois, flow from the soutli and west, 
and form two large valleys, which intersect each 
uilier in the northeast part of the county, while 
Galloway's Prairie from the table lands upon the 
nortli and Lane's Prairie on the south, all in its 
basis a population of about 1,200. 

WHEAT, GRASS AND CORN 

are the' staple products of the bottom lands, while 
hogs, cattle and mules are the principal stock ship- 
ments. Wheat, oats, rye, grass and fruit of all 
kinds are successfully produced upon the table 
lands. 

The scenery upoh Lane's Prairie is I)eautiful. 
Tiie scliool interest in this portion of the county is 



in a flourishing condition. Large and fertile tracts 
of land are lying idle, awaiting the touch of the 
energetic, industrious and scientific husbandman. 
Intelligent labor and nominal capital is all that is 
lacking to make Jefferson Township, in jraries 
County, IVIissouri, almost a continuous neighborhood 
of well-to-do farmers. 

JOHNSON AND SPRING CREEK TOWNSHIPS 

(comprise that portion of Maries County east of the 
Gasconade River and south of the line dividing town- 
ships thirty-nine and forty, and watered by the Bur- 
bois and Spring Creeks, known as' Johnson Township 
and Spring Creek Township, and lies north of the St. 
Louis & San Francisco Railway, along the north 
boundary of Phelps County and including the south 
half of Lane's Prairie and Spanish Prairie, forming 
the table and uplands on the north and northeast 
from the Burbois, Spring Creek heading up south at 
the cit}' of Rolla, and flowing northwest -to the 
Gasconade River, four miles south of Vienna, iu 
Maries County. The hill scenery from Rolla to the 
Gasconade River along this stream is mountainous, 
picturesque and grand, while in the valley of Spring 
Creek are some of the most fertile lands in the 
county. 

All the hills bear large deposits of mineral, 
both iron and lead, and are of suiEcient richness to 
invite and command the attention of foreign capi- 
talists. There is also in this portion of the county 
and in the center of the mineral developments the 
finest springs of mineral water in the West. These 
springs break out from the hills in the mineral- 
bearing districts, and are located one mile and a 
half south from Lane's Prairie, twelve miles south- 
east of Rolla, and ten miles northwest from St. 
James. The water has been analyzed l)y I'rofessor 
Wait, of the School of Mines, and from his analysis 
is found to contain lime, magnesia, chlorine, iron, 
potassa, soda, sulphuric acid, and salicylic acid in 
more or less quantities. 

TIMBER INTERESTS 

in this section are also commanding the labor of a 
large force of workmen, besides the soil being well 
adapted to the cultivation of wheat, corn and 
tobacco, and if tlie mineral interests should be 
properly developed, would furnish employment for 
a vast army of laborers. This, includes what is 
designated as Spring Creek Township. East of this 
lies Johnson Township, a district nine by seven 
miles, which is more densely populated than any 
district of its size iu the county, was taken from 
Phelps County and attached to Maries. Nearly all 
of this territory is susceptible of cultivation. It is 
the best improved portion of tlie county. Farmers 
are thrifty, but are owners of too much uncultivated 
land. This offers one of the best fields for immi- 
grants in SouthAvest Missouri. The lownshij) is 
watered by tlie waters of the Burbois, llie feeders to 



190 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



tills strecim extending like the spokes of an uitfolded 
fan from Lane's Prairie to Dillon, on the St. Louis 
& San Francisco Railroad, and all converging to a 
point on the (;ounty line just east of Clear Creek in 
Phelps County. Fertile lands and still rich in 
mineral, iron of all shades, Lane's Prairie and 
Spanish Prairie being included in the township, St. 
James being the railroad center. Schools are in 
fine running order, farmers prosperous and have 
capital, and withal of more than general intelli- 
gence, and to a great extent imbued with a spirit of 
progress. 

To the intelligent laborer in search of a home, this 
portion of the county offers more than ordinary in- 
ducements, its products being indiscriminately corn, 
wheat, oats, rye, barley, sorghum, tobacco and grass, 
besides large shipments of fat cattle, hogs and 
mules. The population of that portion of Maries 
County east of the Gasconade Kiver is estimated at 
about 4,000. 

JACKSON AND BOONE TOWNSHIPS. 

After crossing the Gasconade River, the county is 
similarly divided, an equal portion of the county 
lying north of the line between townshiiDS 39 and 40 
north. The west side of the river is watered by three 
streams running from south to north, the West Ma- 
ries and East Maries Creeks, and the Little Tavern. 
The East Maries runs parallel with the Gasconade 
River and diverges west from two to six miles. The 
West, or Little Maries, runs parallel in tlie same di- 
rection with the East Maries, and diverges west from 
two to six miles, forming a junction with the East 
Maries near the Osage County line. The Little Tav- 
ern has its source in Maries County, near Iron Sum- 
mit, and flows north on the west side of range 11, to 
where it passes into Miller County, near the middle 
of township 41, range 11 west. This makes up the 

WATER PRIVILEGES 

wcsl of the Gasconade River. The country along 
these streams is very fertile, while the uplands lying 
between the Little Tavern and Little Maries is quite 
fertile, and iv major portion is susceptible of success- 
ful cultivation. Taking that portion of the county 
west of the Gasconade River and north of township 
line between 39 and 40, is principally adapted to 
agriculture, being peopled in the main by working, 
prospei-ous farmers, a large portion Germans, with 
a large Irish settlement, and numbers of old settled 



Americans. Wheat, hogs and mules are the money- 
producing ]n-oducts in this portion of the county. 

The western portion or northwest part of the 
county, is as finely watered by the Little Tavern as 
any country can be. The surface is undulating and 
of fine fertility, and not abruptly broken. In this 
portion of the count}' good school houses are found, 
and the school interest is in a flourishing condition. 

For this portion of the county the inducements 
are encouraging. To the careful, intelligent, indus- 
trious and frugal laborer, there can ))e no better 
section in which to locate. The character of coun- 
try, quality of soil, and cheapness of land, alT con- 
spire to favorably impress the seekers of a healthy 
and satisfactory home. In (his portion of Maries 
County there are four post-oflices: Vienna, Lacon, 
Manton and Tavern. Population, 2,200. 

MILLER AND DRY CREEK TOWNSHIPS. 

The remaining portion of Maries County includes 
all south of the line dividing townships 39 and 40, 
and west of the Gasconade River, which is more 
sparsely settled. The re's^t of the county is a section 
of country well watered by small streams : Tavern, 
Cliffy, Little Tavern and Drj' Creek. The laud upon 
Dry Creek is extremely fertile, also along the Little 
Ta^'ern. This section of the county is high table 
land, witli hickory, red-bud and walnut growth. 

On the west portion of this part of the county is 
located the Blue Ridge Iron Company, who ai'e now 
developing their mine, which promises inexhaus- 
tion. Besides the property of the Blue Ridge Iron 
C!onipany there are other prospects equally as flat- 
tering. The St. Louis & San Francisco Railwa}'- runs 
parallel with the county, only three miles distant 
from the line, with Jerome, Dixou, and Iron Sum- 
rait as the trading points. 

Aside from the mineral prospects of this portion 
of the county, the agricultural interest is equal, if 
not superior, to any other portion ; and for sheep 
and cattle growing is superior. The growth and 
yield of wheat in the fertile valleys of Dry Creek, 
Jlaries and Tavern are inlmense; and, in fact, the 
large trade which supports Dixon is drawn from this 
portion of Maries County. The population is now 
about 1,800, and is capable of sustaining a i>opula- 
tion largely in excess of the present. Lands are 
cheap, and holders will sell at liberal rates. The 
school intei-est in this portion of the county is well 
organized and in a flourishing condition. 



MARION COUNTY. 



Marion Countv has an area of 434 square miles, 
embracing 277,760 acres of magnificent lands, with a 
population of 30,000, and having a Mississippi River 
fi-ont of thirty miles. The river is crossed by two 
magnificent iron raih-oad bridges — one of M'hich, in 
the northern part of the county, ))eing over one mile 
in length, and the other, at Hannibal, in the southern 
part of the county, the center of six railway lines, 
including two main trunk roads — connecting the 
Atlantic witli the Pacific. 



The county lies lull in the center of the great 
middle belt of the Union, reaching from ocean to 
ocean, which composes the great commercial, finan- 
cial, railway and manufacturing centers; the great 
dairy, grazing, grain, and fruit districts; the 
great universities; the finest school systems; 
the densest and strongest population; the most 
advanced civilization, and the equable mean of 
laliludc and climate for the American conti- 
nent. 



Hand-Book of jMissouhi. 



191 



THE TOPOGRAPHY 

of Marion County is singularly beautiful, witli its 
river front, partly of bold rugged bluffs, rising 
abruptly to a height of one hundred to two hundred 
and fifty feet, outlined by cliffs, crags and palisades, 
and abounding in dells, gorges, canons, glens, 
grottoes, caverns and ravines, crowned with a 
wealth of forest, whose drapery of green and 
crimson and gold lends an indescribable charm to 
the landscape. 

Aljout forty per cent, of the county is open 
prairie, and the sixty per cent, originally timber is 
now half in cultivated farms, leaving thirty per cent. 
of the county in forest, and abounds with the finest 

springs. 

THE CLIMATE 

is unsurpassed. Here is the happy mean between 
the extremes of southern heat and northern cold. 
The summer is long and pleasant, with dry, cool 
tiights and breezy days. The winter is generally 
mild, dry and open, much of it like a -northern 
Indian summer.. An elevation of seven hundred 
feet above the tide, with no swamps or lagoons ; the 
superb natural drainage of the county ; the abund- 
ant pure gushing water from the numerous springs, 
and the prevailing life-inspiring west winds give as 
high measure of general health as may be found in 
America. The snow fall is usually light and rarely 
lies long. The annual rain fall is about thirty-seven 
inches, and the season admits of field labor ten 
months in a year. 

THE SOU. 

in the bottoms and valleys is a very rich alluvial 
soil, from three to ten feet deep ; is very pliable and 
easily managed, produces enormously and is prac- 
tically inexhaustible. The surface s^il of the up- 
lands is from one to three feet deep, a dark, rich 
loam upon the prairies, and in the timber it is of a 
dark yellow and redish color, which for productions 
ranks with the best soils in the west. 

Underlying this county is the famous and ever 
fertile loess subsoil, which, by analysis, is found to 
be identical with the loess deposits of the Rhine 
and Nile valleys. It absorbs water readily, making 
a natural drainage, and retains moisture to a 
remarkable degree. It is known to be among the 
best soils in the world for grain, grasses and fruits. 
Deep plowing and tliorough cultivation is all that is 
required to make this land bloom with good farms. 

The wheat fields of Marion County have for the 
last year shown the capabilities of this soil in a 
wonderful way. Many a field of wheat grown upon 
land that has been cultivated for forty successive . 
years, without any kind of artificial manure, has 
given from twenty to forty bushels per acre. 

The production of the county for the year 1S79 is 
estimated at eight hundred thousand bushels. Corn, 
however, is king of grains here, as blue grass is of 
tlie grazing fields. Scores of corn fields have yielded 
ninety bushels of shelled corn to the acre. 

This county annually produces from two and a 
half to three million bushels. 

Other crops, such as oats, barley, rye, fiax, broom 
lorn, tobacco, hemp, sorghum, beans, peas, buck- 
Vheat, millet, Hungarian grass, garden and field 
wgetables generally have a yery luxuriant growth. 

This county is well adapted to tlie growth of blue 
grass, timothy and clover, making it a superb region 



for stock-raising, and it is estimated that not leas 
than 1,(100 car loads of fat cattle and swine, valued at 
$1,200,000, are annually exported from the county. 

There is no finer sheep country in the West than 
the beautiful hills and rolling prairies of Marion 
Countj' presents. 

Horses and mules are ^argely raised for export. 
About 250 car loads find a ready market annually, 
Missouri being the largest mule -raising State in the 
Union. 

This is the home of the fruit-grower. It lies in the 
fruit latitude, and has a superior fruit climate. The 
river bluffs are especially adapted to grape -gi-o wing. 

FINANCIAL MATTERS. 

Tlie county debt is merely nominal and taxes very 
light, being a trifle over one per cent. 

SCHOOL FACILITIES AND CHURCHES. 

Marion is one of the choice counties in the State 
of Missouri— now ranks as the fourth or fifth county 
in the State. It has sixty churches, sixty-five public 
schools and four colleges, and is rapidly advancing 
in everything that goes to make communities pros- 
perous and happy. 

This county has a permanent school fund of $50,000, 
the interest of which,, together with a four mill tax, 
and the public fines and penalties, give ample sup- 
port to the public school system. 

PRICE OF LANDS. 

Unimproved lands in this county can be purchased 
at from five to ten dollars per acre, and improved 
farms from ten to forty dollars per acre. 

TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

Palmyra, called the " City of Flowers,"— a beauti- 
ful place of 3,000 inhabitants— is the county seat of 
Marion County, and contains eleven churches, three 
colleges and several excellent public and private 
schools, a fine court house, two banks, two printing 
offices, two newspapers, two hotels, two railroad 
depots, two excellent fiouring mills, a fine packing 
house, several important manufactories and nu- 
merous prosperous and successful business houses 
engaged in a large commercial and local trade. 

Tlie business men are active, intelligent and ener- 
getic, and in some instances are rapidly accumulat- 
ing handsome fortunes. 

Hannibal, the largest city in Northeast Missouri, 
with a population of 15,000, stands in the center of 
a group of counties remarkable for fertility, natural 
advantages, enterprise and increasing trade. 

Opposite are Pike and Adams Counties, in Illinois, 
connected by a Avagon bridge and a ferry, with 
one hundred thousand acres of the ri(;hest garden 
lands in the world, reclaimed from overflow by a 
substantial levee. It controls most of the trade of 
Ralls and Pike Counties, in Missouri, and other 
counties, giving it great facilities for wholesale and 
retail trade. 

Tlie city is beautifully situated iu a remarkably 
picturesque locality, the mighty river washing its 
front and flowing at its feet, with hills in the back- 
ground more beautiful and numerous than the 
imperial "City of the Seven Hills" could ever 
boast, forming an irregular amphitheater, Avhile its 
salubrious air expands the lungs and gives activity. 



192 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



energy and longevity to its inhabitants. Its 
growth has been healthy, substantial and con- 
tinued. 

The assessed valuation of its property (less than 
two-thirds real value) is three million dollars. The 
rate of taxation (including school tax) is about one 
and a half per cent. 

The town has ample educational facilities — six 
ward public schools, several private schools, one 
high school, and one academy; able and accom- 
plished professors and teachers; value of public 
school property, p9,000. 

There are thirteen churches, with ample accom- 
modations for all. 

The three flouring mills manufactured in 1879 
175,000 barrels of flour. 

One hundred and fifty thousand barrels of the 
best white lime known in the markets were manu- 
factured here in the last year, one firm having nine 
patent kilns. 

The lumber business in the numerous yards and 
planing mills is immense. Sales in 1879 amounted 
to over 125,000,000 feet. One mill and yard employ 
two hundred hands ; another firm employ in their 
various departments three hundred and eisthty-flve 
men, and sold last year 30,000,000 feet of lumber. 

The ice business is an important industry. 

Hannibal has six railroads, running in all direc- 



tions, five of which terminate here, the other being 
a through line from St. Louis to St. Paul. 

Hannibal lias new water works on the most ap- 
proved plan furnishing water excellent in quality 
and abundant in quantity, haying a reservoir with a 
capacity of a million and a half gallons ; has ten and 
a half miles of pipe and seventy-five hydrants dis- 
tributed throughout the city, with two steam fii-e 
engines affording most ample protection against 
fires, giving us as low insurance and M'ater rates as 
are enjoyed by the large cities. 

The streets and dwellings are well lighted with 
gas. Sti-eet cars on the principal streets. The 
business houses and many dwellings are supplied 
with teleplione communication. A mercantile 
library and reading room has been established. 
Three daily and three weekly newspapers and a 
large job printing establishment are located here. 

Tlie climate is salubrious, alike free from the long 
winters of the North and the scorching summers 
of the Soutli, and only six miles from our prosper- 
ous little city is one of the bc^t health -giving 
mineral springs in America, with nearly four hun- 
dred acres of beautiful wooded grounds attached, 
which grounds are skirted with one mile of river 
front and one mile of railroad. It is just one hun- 
dred miles from St. Louis, and ere long it will be 
made a resort of prominence. 



MERCER COUNTY. 



Mercer County is a part of the Grand River valley. 
This stream falls into the Missouri Elver, in Chariton 
County, and thence it and its tributaries extend 
northward and westward, the country thus drained 
widening until where it reaches the line of Missouri, 
It is one hundred miles in width. 

This valley, in the fertility of its soil, and in its 
adaptation to the production of every variety of 
farm products grown in this latitude, has no supe- 
rior west of the Mississippi River. Though generally 
consisting of prairie lands, many of its hills are 
crowned with forests of the most valuable varieties 
of timber, including oak, walnut and maple. 

The Grand River system consists of three branches, 
known as the west, the middle, and Weldon or east 
branch of Grand River. 

Mercer County is drained by tlie east or Weldon 
branch, which passes through tlie central part of 
the county, wliile the middle l)ranch skirts the 
western border, generally being in the edge of the 
adjacent county on the west. Tlie county is boun- 
ded on the north by Iowa; on the east bySiiUivan 
and Putnam Counties ; on the south by Grundy, and 
on the west by Harrison County. 

Altliough the county was settled in 18:57, it was not 
until 18.50 that the land in the county l)egan to be 
taken up, and, unfortunately for the speedy devel- 
opment of the county, large tracts of land within the 
county fell into the hands of non-residents, who 
bought and lield them for speculation. Most of these 



investors have found that land, bought even so low 
as one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and held 
for thirty years, has become a very poor investment. 
Large tracts of tliose wild lands are now offered 
for sale at very low rates, the holders being in most 
cases anxious. to dispose of them. 

CLIMATE. 

The climate is about the same as that of Central 
Ohio, Indiana, and Southern Pennsylvania. The 
winters are generally very mild. During the last 
winter there was not a sufficient fall of snow to 
M'hiten the ground for a single day. 

The amount of rainfall is from forty-two to forty- 
. five inches per annum, being somewhat more than 
that of Central Ohio. It is amply sufficient for all 
the purposes of successful agriculture. 

The health of the people is as good as that of any 
part of the West. Aside from a few M'ho live on the 
low bottoms, they are free from ague. 

TIMBER AND PRAIRIE. 

Originally about two -fifths of the county was 
timber lands, the three-fifths prairie lands. On 
each side of the AVeldon fork of Grand River is a 
belt of timber, about three miles wide, while on the 
western side of the county is another body of 
timber; and there are considerable belts of timber 
bordei-ing upon the course of several smaller 
streams in the eastern part of the county. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



193 



Between these streams and the timber lands^ 
skirting them the lands are prairie. • 

V.ery many of the farms are partly timber and 
partly prairie lands, but those who own exclusively 
prairie farms are within easy reach of timber land, 
where it can be procured cheaply foi- fuel, fencing 
and building material. Tlie leading varieties of 
timber are the white and burr oak, hickory, elm, 
walnut, maple, and Cottonwood. The supply of good 
oak is very lai-ge. 

SOII>. 

The prairie soil is a black, rich loam. The white 
oak lands are clay. There are large tracts of what 
is called elm land, the soil of which is black and 
very rich, originally covered with a very heavy 
growth of white and red elm, and bass-wood. 

PRODUCTIONS. 

Nowhere in all the West is the soil capable of 
producing with profit a greater variety of crops 
than is raised here. 

Both spring and winter wheat are raised here — 
the clay soil being the best for the winter variety. 
Aside from two years of failure, the wheat crop of 
the county for the last twelve years has averaged 
not less than si.xteen bushels per acre. Some flejds 
in 1879 yielded as high as forty bushels per acre. 

The corn crop, from the certainty of a large 
yield, has always been considered by the farmers as 
the chief reliance. One farmer, who has lived in 
the county for fourteen years, states that during all 
that time there has Ijccn no failure of the corn crop. 
During two years of this time the 3'ield has been re- 
duced to half a crop, caiised by drouth one year, 
and the other by continued wet weather during the 
months of June and July. 

STOCK. 

The bulk of the corn is fed to cattle and hogs. 
Great numbers of these are fattened for the Eastern 
•market. 

Some idea may be formed of the extent of this 
industry from a partial statement of the shipment 
of fat cattle and hogs. 

The southwestern branch of the Chicago, Rock 
Island and Pacific Railroad passes through about 
the center of the county, and there are on this line 
three stations, and besides, one just at the line, in 
Iowa, and another about a mile below the county 
line in Grundy County. The statistics of shipments 
from but one station, that of Princeton, arc given : 

There were shipped by car from Princeton during 
the year, ending April 1st, 1880, 172 car loads of fat 
cattle and 369 car loads of fat hogs. 

OTHER GRAINS AND AGRICULTUUA1> 
RESOURCES. 

Rye, oats, and barly are all certain crops here, 
whilst the yield has been all that can be expected 
of any country. 

GRASS. 

As a grass country Mercer County is par excel- 
lence. The Kentucky blue grass is fast replacing 
the wild prairie grasses, and is Uiiw well s-et inmost 
of the timber lands. This grass is fast appropriat- 
ing every uncultivated spot and turning the forest 
into rich pasture lands. 

Timothy and clover flourish here as well as in any 
part of the country. 



DAIRY. 

From what has been said of this county as a grass 
country, it would be expected that the daily busi- 
ness would command the attention of the people. 
Such is the case since the completion of the rail- 
road, which has given a good market for the 
dairy produce, as the people. have more and more 
turned their attention to this branch of industry. 

There is scarcely a farmer that does not keep a 
number of cows, the butter from which is made for 
market. 

The shipment of butter, eggs, poultrj-, and what 
is generally known as country produce from Prince- 
ton, reached, last year, one hundred and forty-six 
car loads. 

Sheep are profitably raised here. Both the climate 
and products of the soil are well adapted to this 
branch of industry. They are healthy and are easily- 
fatted for market. 

BUILDING MATERIAL. 

The county is well supplied with timber, not only 
all that is required for home use, but large quantities 
are shipped to other parts of the country. 

There were shipped from Princeton during the 
last year 379 carloads of timber (pine lumber)^ More 
than this was shipped from each of two other rail- 
way stations in the county. 

The total shipment of timber and lumber from the 
county was last year considerably more than 1,000 
car loads. 

There is, within easy reach of every part of the 
county, a large supply of good building stone, easily 
quarried. There are quarries along the line of the 
railroad extensively worked, and from which sev- 
eral hundred car loads of stone are taken each year 
and shipped. 

FRUIT CULTURE. 

The peach has been cultivated here, but as the 
trees occasionally winter-kill, little attention has 
been paid to this fruit. 

The apple is a success in every respect. The trees 
grow luxuriantly, and rarely fail of bearing a large 
crop. The trees grow much better than in the ex- 
clusively prairie counties. 

Apples for shipment command a good price, and 
so profitable have the orchards been that some have 
planted large orchards. There is one orchard in the 
county of over 5,000-trees, and there are a number of 
orchards of over 500 trees. Those who have or- 
chards now bearing, and have taken proi)er care of 
them, find the business profitable beyond expecta- 
tion. 

Experienced pomologists say that there is no part 
of the country that is the superior of Mercer 
County for the successful cultivation of the apple. 

All the hardy varieties of the grape flourish here. 
The Concord has been especially successful, and 
has been largely cultivated. 

A few years ago those who had vines bearing 
found them very profitable, as the fruit commanded 
a liigh price ; but now almost every farmer raises all 
those in need for home use, and l)ut little can be ob- 
taiftcd for them iu the market, simply because they 
can be grown so cheaply. Large, fine clusters of 
ripe grapes are often sold as low as two cents per 
pound. 



194 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



Cherries can be raised here with as little labor as 
in any part of the country. All one has to do is to 
plant the trees and keep the stock from eating them 
np. The trees grow thriftily, and rarely ever fail of 
bearing. 

All the small fruits are grown here Mith success. 

In early times, in the season for strawberries, the 
ground on prairies and in edges of the timber, was 
red with ripe, wild strawberries. These have disap- 
peared since the country became settled, but the 
gardens now yield a bountiful supply of the tame 
varieties of this fruit. 

THE PEOPLE. 

The earliest settlers came generally from Ken- 
tucky and Tennessee. These wei-e soon reinforced 
from Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and since the war 
large additions have been made to the population 
from all the Northern and Eastern States, until now 
the greater part of the population are either those 
who came from the Northern and Eastern States, or 
the children of such. 

SCHOOL FACILITIES. 

The Free School system has been in successful 
operation in this county for the last fourteen years, 
and now the schools, in town and county, will com- 
pare favorably with any of the Northern or Eastern 
States. The peojjle are steadfast friends," and en- 
thusiastic supporters of the Free School system. 
There is not a school disti-ict that is not supplied 
with a comfortable school-house, in none of which 
is school maintained for less than four months in 
each year— whilst generally the schools are kept 
open for from six to eight months in the county dis- 
tricts, and for ten months in the to\vns and villages. 



CHURCHES. 

The county is well supplied with churches. The 
church membersliip is about equally divided be- 
tween the Methodist, Baptist and Christian denomi- 
nations. 

POLITICS. 

" AtPresidentialelections the county generally goes 
Republican by about two-thirds majority. 

The laws are enforced, and there is no place 
where crime is moi-e hotly pursued by the authori- 
ties than here, and nowliere is a peaceal)le man 
safer. 

THE PKICE OF LANt>. 

By the Eastern man, about to seek a home in the 
West, it should be borne in mind that but little, if 
any, over one-half of j\rercer County is imder culti- 
vation, and that large tracts of wild land can be 
bought here at from three to eight dollars per acre ; 
and that improved farms can be bought at from, 
six to ten dollars per acre. 

IMMIGRATION INDUCEMENTS. 

The soil is good, par excellence, for corn, rye, oats 
potatoes and grass, for the apple, cherry and all the 
varieties of small fruit. For the successful raising 
of cattle, sheep, hogs and horses, no better country 
will be found than this. 

The railroad facilities are flrst-class ; and markets, 
good schools and churches are lirst-class, and 
honest courts and juries enforce the laws. 



MILLER COUNTY. 



Miller County occupies a position nearly central 
in the great State of Missouri, and embraces an 
area of about 570 square miles. Its surface, in 
elevation, varies from forty to six hundred feet 
above the level of the Missouri River at the Osage 
River— the lowest portions being in the valleys of 
the latter stream and the northwestern and south- 
western townships. Near the Osage and its largest 
tributaries the country is generally broken, except- 
ing immediately in the valleys ; but further back, 
slopes usually become more gentle, until we reach 
the higher districts, more remote from streams, 
where the surface is comparatively level, or but 
slightly undulating. 

STREAMS OF WATER. 

The largest stream in Miller County is Osage 
River, which passes, meanderingly, near the middle, 
in a northeasterly direction. Being navigable for 
steamboats, it is of much value to tlie citizen settlers, 
as an outlet for their surplus products, and for the 
return of such freights as the trade demands. The 



Auglaize and Tavern Creeks are the larger streams 
flowing into the Osage, on the south side ; the former 
heads in Camden County, and meanders through 
the southwest part of Miller County, with numerous 
smaller streams, finding their confluence in the 
Osage, west of the flourishing town of Brumly. 
This creek has an average width of 1-20 feet, and 
a depth of two and a half feet; it has a rapid 
current, and clear. The Tavern Creek heads in 
Pulaski County, and flows through the eastern 
townships of Miller County in a northern direc- 
tion, to where it empties into the Osage, about one 
and a half miles of the Cole County line. It is fed 
by numerous small streams, caused by large, bold 
springs in the eastern portion of the county. Its 
average width is one hundred feet, by two feet 
deep, clear and cool, with many, long deep iToles, 
suitable for fish-raising. 

The entire valley of the Tavern Creek is equal to 
that of the Osage. There are numerous other 
streams heading in the southern part of Miller 
County, 'such as Kii'kman's, Humphrey's, Coon, 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



195 



Dog, Bear, and smaller branches, flowing into the 
Osage from the south side. On the nortli side of the 
Osage tliere are. quite a number of beautiful clear 
streams, such as Little Grovoix, Gum, Big and Little 
Saline, Jim Henry, Cub, Levitts, Little Tavern, and 
Jinkins. Besides these, there are many others not 
having names, all heading in the northern part of 
the county, flowing in a southern and eastern direc- 
tion into the Osage Eiver. These streams, like 
those on the south side of the river, are supplied by 
beautiful, clear springs, which never freeze nor dr}' 
up. Many supply water sufficient to run mills and 
manufactories, 

There is no county in the State better supplied 
with good water. 'Many of the springs aflford extra- 
ordinary quantities of water. They flow with about 
the same quantity of water in dry time as in rainy 
or wet seasons, never freezing, affording water- 
power the year round. 

TIMBER. 

Miller County is well supplied with flne timber of 
various kinds. It generally consists of red burr, 
white and black oak, white and red elm, white and 
black walnut, sugar and soft maple, ash, sycamore, 
hickory, honey locusts, hackberry, bass-wood, wild 
cherry, cedar, buckeye, etc. In the Big and Little 
Richwoods, in the southeast portion of the county 
and northwest part, the timber is generally post, 
black-jack, laurel oak, hickory, crab-apple, persim- 
mon, etc. 

SOIL. 

In the valleys of all streams in Miller County 
there is a rich, alluvial soil, unsurpassed in fertility 
by any in the State. In the higher districts there 
are areas, of considerable extent, of flne, arable 
land, especially in the northwestern and southeast- 
ern townships. 

The former embraces Saline and Franklin town- 
ships, and the latter what is known as Big and 
Little Richwoods. In both of these the soil is of ex- 
cellent qualitf, and the growth of timber much 
larger than in the surrounding country.. Tliey by no 
means embrace all the good lands in the county. 
In the scope of country about Mount Pleasant and 
Rocky Mount, on the divide of the waters flowing 
north to the Moreau and south to the Osage, is a 
flne district of country, well settled and improved. 
Ibernia and Brumly, two thriving villages in the 
southeastern and southern portions of Miller 
County, are well supported bv the thrifty farmers iu 
those localities. In various other parts of the 
county are areas of good lands ; and even districts, 
that are too hilly and rocky for the plow, ai'e admir- 
ably adapted to stock-grazing and grape culture. 
In many places along the rocky hill slopes wild 
native vines, bearing large and better flavored 
grapes than in any other region, can be found, that 
scarcely ever fail having a good crop. 

The clay iu tliis county is of the best quality, to 
manufacture the red brick. There are numerous 
beds of pipe -play and flre-brick. 

BUILDING STONE. 
Rock suitable for almost every description of 
building purposes can be found in any part of the 
county; cotton rock, lime and sajidstone; flint 
and gravel in all streams, for grout houses, walks 
and roads. 



MINERALS. 

At several places in Miller County iron ore is 
found in considerable quantities, and especially in 
southern parts, where there are companies at this> 
writing mining and hauling large quantities to the 
St. Louis and San Francisco Railway. 

Le.ad ore has been found in different localities in 
Miller County, generally on the north side of the 
Osage River; it occurs in rocks and among the 
loose surface material, overlying solid rock. The 
main points where this ore has been discovered is 
spoken of by Capt. Franklin and Mr. Etter, of Saline 
Township, in their report. 

There are three banks of the finest smelting coal 
open at this time in the vicinity of Rocky Mount, 
the veins of which indicate their inexhaustiveness; 
also, there are strong indications of coal in the 
southeast of the county, known as Big Rich Woods. 

There are many banks of the finest tiff, transpar- 
ent with a bluish cast, and ball tiff can be found in 
almost every neighborhood in the county. At this 
time a mill, known as Turner's, situated on the 
. banks of the Osage, twenty miles nortlieast of Tus- 
cumbia, is engaged in grinding tiff and prepai-ing it 
for the i)ainter's and others' use. 

TOWNS, CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS. 
Miller county has six small towns, to wit: Tus- 
cumbia, on the north bank of the Osage River, is 
near the center and capital of Miller County ; brick 
court house, brick school -house, two steam floqr- 
ing mills, one saw mill, three merchants, two black- 
smiths, two carpenters, two shoe shops, one' h9,r- 
ness-maker, two printing oflTices ; church, two or 
three times per month ; school eight months iu the 
year. Pleasant Mount, Rocky Mount, Iberia, 
Brumly and St. Elizabeth are all supplied with 
merchants, mechanics and professional men, all in 
a prosperous and lucrative business, from the fact 
farmers are all doing well. 

GRAIN AND PRODUCTS. 

Without boasting, Miller Count}' seems as favor- 
ably located for the production of all grains 
and vegetables as almost any other county in the 
State. Wheat will, on the average, if properly- 
seeded, produce from twenty to thirty bushels to 
the acre; corn from fifty to eighty; other cereals 
in proportion. Potatoes will range from one hun- 
dred to three hundred bushels to the acre; fre- 
quently two crops are produced on the same soil 
in one year. Corn is often planted on ground after 
wheat is harvested, producing fifty to sixty bushels 
of the best corn, before frost. 

CLIMATE AND PRICE OF LAND. 

The Osage Valley seems to be several degrees 
warmer in winter than at Jefferson City. When ice 
is of the tliickness of twelve to fifteen inches in the 
Missouri River, it is never over four to six inches in 
the Osage. 

With all 

THE NATURAL ADVANTAGES 
above enumerated, and a large portion of the county 
being unsettled, and tlie prices of real estate rang- 
ing from fifty cents to five dollars per acre, the im- 
migrant will do well to hesitate before going else- 
where. 



196 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



MISSISSIPPI COUNTY. 



Mississippi County is situated in 36=40' to 37 de- 
grees, opposite the mouth of the Ohio Rivei-, and 
contains 250,000 acres of hind, most all of which is 
susceptible of cultivation, and is a rich, alluvial soil, 
called, in western parlance, " river bottom" — a soil 
which rivals in fertility the valleys of the Nile. 

TIMBER SUPPLY. 

All kinds of timber abound, the predominant 
growth being cotton-wood, black walnut, black and 
honey locust, white, red, black, over cup, chinquapin 
and post oak, sugar tree, maple, mulberry, coffee- 
nut, sweet and black gum, persimmon, paw-paw, 
dogwood, etc.; and upon the water-courses are im- 
mense " brakes " or groves of cypress, a timber 
equal to pine for building purposes, and superior to 
it for out-door work, such as weathei'-boarding, 
shingles, fencing, railroad ties and piling. The 
timber alone, in many instances, will ymy for the 
farm, and there is a fair 'market for it here and in St. 
Louis. 

PRODUCTIONS. 

The productions are cora, oats, wheat, rye, sugar 
cane, tobacco, potatoes, etc. The yi^ld of corn is 
from fortv to one hundred and thirty bushels to the 
acre ; oats, from twenty to forty ; wheat, from twenty 
to flfty-flve; potatoes from two hundred to Ave 
hundred, and other cereals in proportion ; and 
this without manure or other cultivation than the 
plow. Cotton does well for the latitiide, producing 
from four hundred to five hundred pounds to the 
acre. 

Garden vegetables attain a size that would he 
deemed fabulous in tlie hills or under a more 
northern clime ; potatoes, turnips and other root 
crops grow fine, and yield largely, as also do 
pumpkins, melons, beans, peas, and other lugu- 
minous vegetables. Apples, pears, quinces and 
plums, do well; and it is the special home of the 
peach and the smaller fruits, such as currants, 
gooseberries, i-aspberries and strawberries. 

Southern Illinois furnishes St. Louis and Chicago 
with early fruits and vegetables, so much so, that 
the Illinois Central and other roads run quick trains 
expressly to carry these, and the trade is rapidly 
inci-easing. 

SOILS. 

Southern Illinois, except a small portion about 
Cairo, is a hilly country with a cold, clayish soil, 
and the same might be said of certain sections of 
Missouri, after passing out of the bottom lands; 
while here is a warm, rich, sandy soil. A degree of 
latitude south of most of the Illinois lands, and half 
that much in altitude, makes the season from two to 
four weeks earlier than llial of Illinois, a matter of 
vital importance to the gardener and market farmer. 

MARKETS AND RAILROADS. 

Marketing can be put in St. Louis in nine hours 
(ISO miles), delivered near the markets with little 



hauling and no transfer of cars, thus enabling fruit 
or vegetables to go there late in the day and be in 
market the next morning, while from Southern 
Illinois there is a change of roads, crossing the 
fen-y and hauling in wagons, taking much more 
time and damaging the article, particularly the 
softer and delicate fruits. 

Southward is the Mississippi River, bordering the 
county for seventy miles, which never blocks with 
ice or goes dry below Belmont, Avith railroads run- 
ning from Columbus, Ky. (opposite Belmont), to 
Nashville, Mobile and New Orleans, and all the 
cotton and sugar-growing States, furnishing a ready 
market for beef, poi'k, corn and other productions 
of the country. 

The St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad runs 
through the northern half and center of the county 
to Belmont, on the Mississippi River, passing 
through the vast mineral country in the vicinity of 
Iron Mountain, soon to become a great manufac- 
turing district, which must draw its supplies of 
jirovisions, except, perhaps, flour, from the rich 
lands further south, making a market almost at our 
own doors. 

The Cairo, Arkansas & Texas Railroad runs from 
Bii-d's Point (opposite Cairo), southwesterly 
through the county, intersecting the Iron Mountain 
road, at Charleston, and extending through to 
Texas. Thus, are secured the very best railroad fa- 
cilities to the four points of the compass. 

TOWNS AND THEIR LOCATION. 

There are three small prairies in the county, 
Matthews' Pi-airie, in townshij) 26, i»,nge 16; Long 
Prairie, in township 26, range 15; East Prairie, in 
township 25, range 15, averaging from four to six 
square miles each, occasionally interspersed with 
small groves of timber. 

In the center of Matthews' Prairie is situated 
tlie city of Charleston, tlie county-seat, at the junc- 
tion of the two railroads above named. It has 
doubled its population in the past decade, and now 
has 2,000 inhabitants. It has Ave churches, two 
Methodist, two Baptist and one Catholic; a large 
and prosperous public school, and a good Catholic 
school ; eight dry goods stores, three drug stores, 
seven grocery stores, two bakeries and confection- 
eries, one stove and tin stoi-e, one planing mill, 
two large steam grist mills, four hotels, two furni- 
ture stores, four blacksmith and wagon shops, 
three newspapers ; and, finally, it contains the usual 
business and professional men found in wide-awake 
towns. A new public school building, costing about 
$6,000, will'be erected this summer (1880), the peo- 
ple having voted the tax levy for that purpose. The 
public school system has been fully tried here, and 
meets the approbation, and "as affixed itself in 
the hearts of the masses of the ^^eople. Schools and 
churches are scattered all over the county, and 
scarcely any settlement is without one or the other, 
or both. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



197 



While Charleston is the principal town, thei-e are 
others— Belmont, on the Mississippi River, seven- 
teen miles soutli of Charleston, which contains 
about 400 population, and is a prosperous, promis- 
ing town; Bird Point, on the Mississippi, opposite 
Cairo, and twelve miles east of Charleston; Bert- 
rand, located four miles west, in Long Prairie, con- 
taining about 400 population. 

CLIMATE. 

The climate is mild, and summers not exceeding- 
ly hot. The nights are always cool. The people 
arekindhearted, moral, generous, frugal, industri- 
ous and honest. They hail from all the States, Ger- 
many, England and Ireland, and have harmonized 
into a homogeneous society. 

POPULATION. 

This county had, in 1870, less than 5,000 popu- 
lation; in 1876 tlie populat^n had'increased to 
8,000, and, according to tlie vote of 1878, it can be 
safely said, the county has now fully 12,000 popula- 
tion, showing a steady and rapid increase. 

FINANCIAL. 

The assessed valuation of property, which is verj' 
low, is $1,275,000. The total annual average State, 
county, school and other taxes, are very low. This 
county has a floating debt of only $8,000, which 
■will be entirely wiped out within tlie next two 
years. 

PRICE OF LAND. 

Lands generally are cheap; unimproved lands 
from $1 to $5 per acre ; good improved farms from 



$5 to $.50 per acre, according to location. Splendid 
improved farms, within fifteen miles of Charleston, 
can be bought for from $10 to $20 per acre. 

AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 

The Mississippi County Agricultural and Mechan- 
ical Society held its seventh annual fair, on the 
grounds of the Society, at Charleston, September 
17th to 20th, 1879. It was the most successful ex- 
hibition yet lield, demonstrating the staple charac- 
ter of the association, and the industry and pride of 
the people. Each succeeding exhiljition of the so- 
ciety shows a marked improvement in the various 
industries of the people. 

WATER SUPPLY. 

The county is well watered in every direction, by 
lakes, bayous, and creeks, and these abound with 
all kinds of splendid food flsh, such as bass, perch, 
pickerel, pike, sun-fish, cat-fish, etc. Game is plen- 
tiful, particularly deer, squirrels, rabbits, geese, 
ducks, partridges, etc. 

TO THE IMMIGRANT. 

/ 
Bi-iefly, this is the poor man's Paradise. Willi » 
mild climate, where snow is almost unknown ; g. 
warm, rich soil, easily worked, equal to any for 
early and large crops ; lands cheap and markets con- 
venient, it certainly oflfers superior inducements to 
those who wish to escape the cold winters of the 
north, have good and cheap lands, and still keep 
within the bounds of civilization. 



MONITEAU COUNTY. 



Moniteau County, lying in the exact center of the 
State, is one of the favored portions of the greatly 
favored commonwealth of Missouri. 

Its civilized history reaches back to the day when 
Daniel Boone loved to roam over its diversified hills 
and plains, drinkirg from its crystal springs, in pur- 
suit of the game which once abounded here. 

The Moniteau, Moreau, and Petite Saline Creeks 
are relics of tlie early French nomenclature, and 
these, and their tributaries, furnish fine drainage, 
and everlasting stock-water, for almost every neigh- 
borhood in the county. 

FINANCIAL. 

No debt whatever — county, township or municip- 
al — hangs over any part of its fair domain. Taxes 
are light, and yet all the public buildings are of the 
most substantial character. The court house and 
public school building at California are among the 
largest and most costly in the State. All over the 
county 

EXCELLENT SCHOOL-HOUSES 

are already built, and occupied by fine schools, open 
to all children between five and twenty-one years of 
age, absolutely free of charge. 



TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES. 

The Missouri River forms the boundary line of all 
the north, and half of the eastern, part of the 
county, affording unusual facilities for cheap trans- 
portation during nine months of the year. The 
Missouri Pacific Railroad passes almost through the 
center of the county, from east to west, and the 
Boonville & Southern Railroad crosses, from north 
to south, through the western portion. 

THE CLIMATE 

is mild, equable, free from great extremes of heat 
or cold — that happy medium which ought to be 
most desirable. The larger portion of the county 
is on an elevated plateau, between the Missouri and 
Osage Rivers, so high above ordinary levels that 
malarial diseases are almost totally unknown, and 
the air is so pure and sweet that still ponds rarely 
become stagnant and foul. Very few regions of the 
earth have such a rare combination of fertile soil 
and extraordinary healthfulness. 

PHYSICAL FEATURES, AND PRODUCTIONS. 

The southern and western portions of the county 
consist mostly of gently undulating prairies, with a 



198 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



rich vegetable -mould soil, very pleasant to oultivate, 
and yielding, in abundance, all tlie ordinary crops 
of the western country— particularly the cereals. 
The north and east have ranges of heavily timbered 
hills, the limber being principally of the best va- 
rieties of oak, interspersed with the usual varied 
timbers common to the West. Along the streams 
are fertile valleys, which often spread out into very 
wide bottoms, than which there is no better land in 
America. 

The hills are well adapted to wheat and grasses, 
and almost unequaled for the very fine quality of 
tobacco produced. 

Horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs, are raised to a 
large extent, and bring in a constant stream of 
wealth. For half a century, great profit has been 
made, by the farmers, on live stock, with very small 
expense. The main reason is that diseases, so 
prevalent elsewhere, are here almost totally un- 
known ; and when we add to this the fact tliat all 
outlying and uncultivated lands, without seeding, 
are soon, spontaneously, sodded over with Kentucky 
blue grass, it is easy to see wliy this is almost a 
paradise for live-stock. 

Recently, great attention is being paid to intro- 
ducing fine sheep, and improving tlie common 
breeds, and it is found tliat the climate and soil- 
especially the poorest hill hands— are peculiarly 
adapted to the profitable raising of every choice 
variety of sheep. 

MINERALS. 

In minerals, lead has heretofore attracted most 
attention, being distributed abundantly over almost 
the whole county. Very little systematic mining has 
been done ; but farmers, at leisure seasons, have 
matle it very profitable to prospect and take out 
mineral that lies near the surface. Some day it will 
be a great source of wealth. A smelting furnace 
has been successfully operated at C^alifornia, and 
several furnaces in the eastern border of the county 
have turned out immense (piantities of pig lead 
during the last thirty-five years. 

Iron ore is said to be very abundant, hut has never 
been sought after. 

Building stone exists in amply sufficient iiuantitics, 
everywhere. The soft, handsome magne>^in lime- 
stone, so easily quarried and worked can be found 
on almost eveiy section, and a finegrained, durable 
limestone, crops out occasionally in quantities 
sufilcient for all requirements of buUdiug and 
making lime. 

Potters <;lay of good quality, is found at various 
places, and two large establishments, at California, 
have, for many years, turned out stoneware, whicli, 
besides supplying the home market, is sliippert all 
over Missouri and Kansas. 

The stone-coal deposits are very peculiar. They^ 
are mostly in "pockets," or detached masses, and 
sometimes in such immense bodies as to astonish 
and confound the geologist. One mass worked out, 
at Clarksburg, by Gen. Jo. (). Shelby, was fifty feet 
thick. The most remarkable deposit exists at the 
Simpson Coal Mines, on the southwest border of the 
county. Here a body of the very finest caniiel coal, 
with considerable veins of lead running through it, 
has been traced for nearly a mile in length, and 
shafts have been sunk in several places fifty feet 



without getting through the coal. If a tap could be 
run out to a railroad, this mine would be a source of 
immense wealth. 

Several enormous " pockets" of bituminous coal 
have been developed, but were too far fi-om trans- 
portation to be successfully worked heretofore. 
Numerous small mines are being worked out near 
the towns and railroads— much of the coal of an 
excellept quality. 

Timber, however, is too plenty and cheap to maki^ 
coals valued, as they will be when time shall re- 
duce the forests. 

" Tiff," or sulphate of baryta, which has now a 
marketable value, is found in various localities, and 
many car loads are annually shipped to St. Louis, at 
a good profit. 

FRUIT CULTURE. 

This seems to be the ])eculiar home of fine fruits. 
The apple in its many varieties (but especially the 
Geniting and ?>en Davis), seems better adapted to 
the soil and climate than almost anj'-where else, and 
thousands of bushels are annually shipped— paying 
better than any other kind of farming. All varieties 
do well when jiroperly attended to, and are finely 
flavored, and keep well. 

Peaches, the most delicious of fruits, seldom fail 
here. Pears, plums, cherries, apricots, persimmons 
and every variety of small fruits reward abundantly 
the labor of the horticulturist. 

EXPORT STATISTICS. . 

Exports at the various points on river and rail- 
road are extremely varied, and, in the aggregate, 
bring back a handsome sum of money. "Wheat, corn, 
oats, hay, tobacco, till, wool and woolen manu- 
factures, feathers, hides, horses, mules, cattle, hogs', 
sheep, leather, flour, hoop-poles, lead, cheese, 
butter, eggs, poultry, pottery-ware, flax-seed, flax- 
tow, stone coal, railroad ties, fence rails and posts, 
walnut lumber, etc., are the bulk of shipments. 

FINANCIAL. 

The county contains four hundred and twenty-one 
square miles, and two hundred and fifty-seven thou- 
sand seven hundred and twenty-one acres of land. 
The last assessment, exclusive of^railroad property, 
was $2,662,895. 

Lands were valued at .?l,2o7,880 

No. of cattle 14.2.!:5 valued at 155,170 

horses 1,9!)1 " " .... 62,250 

sheep lo,:«2 ■• " 15,980 

hogs 33,121 •• ■■ 36,120 

The State taxation was 40 cents ; county, 30 cents ; 
road, 20 cents, on each $100 valuation. The school tax 
varies according to the !'e<|uirements of each district. 

It must be noted that the valuation on all property 
is much under its true value — perhaps not more than 
one-half. 

PRICE OF LANIW. 

The prices of valuable lands are higher (han in 
counties more liilly and less fertile; but they are 
still so low as to give pleasant homes for an aston- 
ishingly small sum to those wlio bring a little ready 
money from the older States. 

The very best improved lands, near railroad 
stations, with fair houses, barns and fences, can 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



199 



now be boilght at from fifteen to twenty dollars per 
acre, less than half what they actually sold for, in 
flush times, just after the war. 

Several miles away from raili-oad stations, well 
improved farms can l)e bought at about ten dollars 
per acre; unimproved lands rate at about half 
the above prices. Some hilly lands, well adapted 
to slieep farms, but not all fit for cultivation, can be 
bought from two to five dollars per acre, and these 
lands are often clothed with valuable timber. 

CHARACTER OF POPULATION. 

Few portions of tlie West have a more mixed 
population. If admixture improves, the population 
ought to be, in the next generation, the best bred 
people in the world. 

Virginia, Kentuclsy and Tennessee sent out the first 
large immigration more than half a century ago. 
Then came in colonies large numbers of thrifty, 
industrious Germans and hardy Swiss, who waxed 
fat and rich, and made even the poorest hiUs sources 



of wealth by clothing them with vines and orchards. 
With the building of the Missouri Pacific Railroad 
Ireland sent her tribute of hardy sons, of whom large 
numbers remained, and have become useful citizens. 
Later, the cheap lands and mild and healthy climate 
brought many hundreds of shrewd and thrifty New 
Eiiglandcrs, wlio found pleasant and happy homos. 
This mixture makes tlie population cosmopolitan, 
liberal and progressive, while, at the same time, the 
law-abiding character, steady habits, and moral 
behavior of the people are remarked by all. Much 
of the old-time hospitality and sociability continues 
to exist among the inhabitants, and a kind and 
friendly feeliug prevails among all classes. All 
churches are well represented, especially Baptists, 
Methodists, Christians, Presbyterians, Congrega- 
tionalists, Roman Catholics, Lutlierans and Evan- 
gelicals. The churches, generally handsome and 
commodious buildings, are well attended. The 
schools are filled with competent teachers who train 
up, free of charge, all the children of the county. 



MONROE COUNTY. 



This county is located in the southern part of 
Nortjieast Missouri, and is the center of what is 
termed, the " Blue Grass Region " of Missouri. It is 
one of the large connties of the State, containing 
422,703 acres, and, in point of wealth, stands among 
the very first of those counties tliat have no large 
cities. 

TIMBER AND PRAIRIE LAND. 

About two-thirds of tlie area of the county was 
originally timber land, and the remainder prairie. 
The prairies are not very large, and are well dis- 
tributed over the county, so that not many of the 
farms of the county, as now owned and occupied, 
are either wholly prairie or wholly timber. Both 
the prairie and timber lands yield abundant crops. 

TIMBER SUPPLY. 

Of this there is a great abundance and of the best 
grades — enough to meet all demands for farm and 
building purposes. The following, among other 
varieties, are found: Black walnut, common shell- 
bark, thick shell-bark and pig-nut hickories, white 
and blue ash, white and black burr, and many other 
varieties of oak ; sugal' tree, maple, linn, sycamore, 
etc., etc. Of the smaller growth there are red and 
black haws, sumach, hazel, paw-paw, red -bud and 
many others. 

SOIL. 

The quality of the soil may almost be gathered 
from the foregoing. It is of the " bluff" formation, 
althougli not so well developed as In some other 
parts of the country. Professor Swallow, in his 
geological survey of 18.55, says, that the "bluff" 
formation prevails in this county, and that the soil 
is well adapted to corn, wheat, oats and tobacco. 



The clay underlying the soil is very productive. 
Manure is at hand, and the soil can be indefinitely 
improved by deep plowing and a proper rotation of 
crops. 

WATER. 

In all parts of the county there i.i the greatest 
abundance of running water. The North, Middle, 
Elk, and South Fork of Salt River pass through Uie 
county from west to east; and they and their * -ibu- 
taries afford good running fresh water throughout 
the dryest seasons. 

CROPS AND GRASSES. 
Corn, wheat, oats, tobacco, timothy, and blue 
grass are the great staples of tlie county. Otlier 
crops and grasses are produced, but most attention 
is given ta the above. The corn crop of 1879 mad« 
an average of forty bushels to the acre for the en- 
tire county. Blue grass grows spontaneously, and 
Monroe County has as fine blue grass pastures as 
there are in the world, and a great many of tJiem. 

MARKETS. 
Thei-e are competing lines of railway to Chicago 
and St. Louis, the best markets in the West. 

STOCK-RAISING. 
From the foregoing it is plain that Monro'e is a. 
great county for stock-raising, and, thorefore, 
those of the farmers are doing best who are de- 
voting themselves to that industrv. All such are 
accumulating wealth from year to year. -The census- 
of 1880 will probably show that this is one of the 
greatest cattle, horse, mule, sheep, and hog'-pi-o- 
ducing counties in the West. In point of size and 
quality, the cattle sent to market are unsurpassed, 
and command the top of the market. 



200 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



SCHOOLS. 

There are ninety- seven school districts in the 
Bounty, and a county school fund of over $107,000. 
This is loaned out at ten per cent, interest, which is 
applied to maintaining free schools in every distri(^ 
in the county. The schools are kept open from 
four to nine months; and, including the county's 
share of the State fund, as much money is 
expended for school purposes in Monroe County 
as anywhere in the West, in proportion to popu- 
lation. 



CHURCHES. 

All denominations are represented, and every 
neighborhood has its church and school-house. 
There is no such thing as ostracism for opinion's 
sake. 

CHEAP LANDS. 

Taking all the facts into consideration, it can be 
confidently asserted that nowhere can cheaper 
farming and stock-raising lauds be bought than in 
Monroe County — the prices ranging from ten to 
twenty dollars for the best improved, and much 
lower for unimproved lands. 



MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 



Montgomery County is admirably located upon 
the Missouri River, about seventy miles west of 
St. Louis, its northeastern boundary being only 
thirty miles west of the Mississippi. It is bounded 
on the south by the Missouri River ; on the east by 
Warren and Lincoln Counties ; on the west by Calla- 
way and Audrain Counties, and on the north by 
Audrain County, and has an area of 228,534 acres. 

THE FACE OF THE COUNTRY 

is channing. The high, rolling prairie of the north- 
ern and central divisions, alternating with beautiful 
timbered valleys, with the wooded hills, table lands, 
and low-lying valleys and bottoms, and the grand 
river bluffs of the southern division, together with 
the numberless glades, intervals, ravines and clear, 
winding streams that break the monotony of the 
woodlands, make up a landscape of loveliness. 

THE CLIMATE 

of Montgomery County, too, is a strong factor in 
the sum of local attractions. A mean elevation, of 
700 feet above the tides, and high, open, rolling praire 
districts on the north aud west, together %vith the 
perfect natural drainage, give comparative freedom 
from malaria. The latitude of Northern Kentucky 
and Virginia gives this region the long, genial sum- 
mers, and mild, open winters of those favored 
States, and a high degree of health and longevity to 
men and animals. 

THE TIMBER GROWTH. 

which originally covered sixty-five per cent, of the 
county, and, to-day, covers a full half, is rich in oak, 
ash, walnut, hickory, sugar and white maple, linden, 
sycamore, red and white elm, and cherry, among 
the commercial woods, besides a long list of less 
valuable varieties. Building timber is alike cheap 
and abundant, and there is no end of cord-wood, at 
$1.2.5 to $2.50 per cord. 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 

Goal is abundant. The popular theory that this 
mineral underlies the entire county is pretty well 
attested by numerous outcroppings of excellent 



coal, in veins from fifteen to forty inches in thick- 
ness. It is easily and cheaply mined by " stripping," 
" drifting," and shafts, for local use, and will, some 
day, become a source of vast wealth to the county. 
There is no end of building stone here. Immense 
beds of white, gray and blue limestone, and splendid 
quarries of white and cream-colored freestone, of 
free and convenient stratification, are found in 
several portions of the county. Marble of good 
quality is [said to be found, in liberal deposits, near 
the county seat. Inexhaustible beds of fire-cliay, of 
the finest quality, are now being worked for the 
export demand, which is steadily increasing, and 
pramises to add largely to the wealth of the county. 
Large deposits of mineral paiut have been partially 
opened, and submitted to manufacturers, for jsracti- 
cal test, with most gratifying results. The Loutre 
Lick Springs are said to yield mineral waters of 
high medicinal ijroperties, and are likely to come 
into national prominence. 

' THE WATER SUPPLY 

of the county is ample and admirable. The Missouri 
River along the southern boundary ; the Loutre and 
its dozen branches in the southwest; the Culver 
and its numerous tributaries in the northeast; with 
scores of spring runs and clear rock springs in the 
wooded districts, and the ponds, cisterns and wells 
of the prairie districts, give every part of the county 
a plentiful supply of pure, wholesome water. 

THE SOIL 

of this county is by far its greatest resource. The 
Missouri River bottoms and minor valleys are cov- 
ered by rich, dark alluvial, from three to ten feet 
deep, and ranks with the most productive soils in 
the world. The prairies and open woodlands have 
a surface soil of alluvial, from twelve to thirty inches 
deep, a shade lighter in color, and very bountiful. 

The subsoil, commonly called clay by the resident 
farmers, is not at all identical with the heavy, dead 
clays of the Eastern States and Canadas, but is 
composed largely of silicious matter, lime and mag- 
nesia carbonate; the phosphates, alumina and or- 
ganic matter, is open and porous, slacks like quick- 
lime on exposure to the frost and air, becomes as 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



201 



flexible as an at^h-heap, holds moisture and manures 
with great tenacity, and will endure great excesses 
of rain and drouth. 

CROPS. 

At least 2,000,000 bushels of corn were grown by 
tillers of the soil the past year, the yield per acre, 
ranging all the way from 30 to 80 bushels (shelled 
corn). Corn is king of grains here, and rarely fails 
of a bountiful crop. Wheat gave a yield of 14 to 35 
bushels per acre, iu the late harvest, and, though not 
largely grown heretofore, was extensively planted 
last autumn, and is looking splendidly. The quality 
of the wheat grown is equal to that of the best lime- 
stone districts in the West, and these oak and 
hickory woodlands, in the hands of Pennsylvania 
and Ohio wheat-growers might easily be transfoi-med 
into a wheat-growers paradise. Oats are a very suc- 
cessful crop ; rye rarely fails of a good yield ; barley 
does finely, while broom corn, flax, millet, hunga- 
rian, sorghum, and the whole line of vegetables and 
plants produced in the temperate latitudes grow 
here iu great luxuriance. Tobacco is a very profita- 
ble crop, especially on the oak and hickory lands. 

FRUIT CULTURE. 

Hundreds of fine, thrifty apple orchards, from two 
to forty acres in extent, with scores of smaller 
orchards of peaches, pears, cherries and plums, and 
an indefinite number of vineyards, attest the value 
of this region for fruit-growing. The vine never 
fails of a crop, and the German vine growers are 
fast demonstrating the value of these southerly 
slopes for this bi'anch of industry. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

The native prairie grasses, of M^iich more than 
one hundred varieties still remain on its ranges, are 
invaluable to the herdsman, from the middle of 
April to the middle of August. Blue grass is the 
chief pasturage of Montgomery County. It is indi- 
genous to the county, and grows fresh and green 
every month in the year. The timothy meadows 
are very fine, and white and red clover have a 
.splendid growth. The winters are mild, oi)en and 
dry, affording ample grazing opportunities for all 
classes of young stock, and the forest and ravine 
give abundant shelter when necessary. The trans- 
portation facilities are good, and the stock -feeders 
can obtain as good prices as in Centi-al Iowa, Cen- 
tral Illinois and Ohio. These many advantages have 
combined to stock husbandry the leading industry 
of the county. The late report of the County As- 
sessor returns 15,307 cattle, ll,o;55 sheep, and 30,972 
swine. There are also 6,000 horses and mules in the 
county. The yearly expoi't of live stock reaches 
1,450 car loads, worth $1,450,000. High-grade sti-ains 
are being rapidly introduced. Three -fourths of the 
county is a natural sheep country, and it is expected 
that the profitable calling will, in the future, find 
many votai'ies. 

RAILWAY FACILITIES. 

The railway facilities of the county are excellent. 
The Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway (main 
line) traverses the county centi-ally, from southeast 
to northwest, twenty-six miles, and affords fine. 



regular shipping and passenger stations within 
three or four hours' ride of St. Louis. The Missouri 
Pacific gives the southern townships three regular 
Stations, and sharp competition with the i-iver 
steamers, for either down or up river traffic. More 
than four-fifths of the producers of the county are 
within half a dozen miles of a railway station. 
Just beyond the northern boundary of the couutv 
is the main line of the Chicago & Alton road. A 
little beyond the western boundary is the Mexico 
and Jefferson City division of the Alton road, and not 
far from the eastern line, the St. Louis, Keokuk & 
Northern. These numerous lines of transportation 
give an unusual measure of profit to all branches of 
local ])roductiou. 

THE COUNTY FINANCES 

are iu splendid shape. The entire debt of the 
county is only about $15,000, which could be paid off 
by a slight increase of a single tax levy. The 
county enjoys high credit, has its public buildings 
and bridges substantially paid for, suffers none of 
the burdens of heavy taxation, and is happily free 
from the evil spirit of municipal repudiation. 

EDUCATION. 

There are seventy-five public schools, seventy 
school-houses, and an enrollment of 5,408 school 
children. The public school system is fostered by . 
an advanced educational sentiment, the iuterest on 
an inalienable school fund of $17,627, a direct tax of 
four and a half mills, the apportionment from the 
State fund, and public fines and penalties. Every 
child in the county has the privilege of a good, Eng- 
lish education. 

« THE PEOPLE 

of the county — 15,000 strong — not only believe in 
schools, but support nearly thirty churches, are 
intelligent, law-abiding, tolerant, hospitable, pro- 
gressive and entei'prising. Full forty per cent, of 
the population are from tlie old free States, the 
Provinces and Europe. The old settlers were largely 
from Kentucky and Virginia, and, with their de- 
scendants, express the hospitality, sterling char- 
acter, reverence for women, high respect for the 
family relation and love of fair play, for which the 
average Keutuckian and Virginian are proverbial. 
Public and, personal morals have a high standard 
here. The laws are faithfully executed and revered, 
and good order is supreme. 

PRICE OF LAND. 

Until recently, no effort lias been made by the 
people or State authorities to invite new settle- 
ment, capital or enterprise, and the nominal land 
values of this great region are the natural sequence. 
Wild lands — timber or prairie — are offered all the 
way from .$4 to $10 per acre, and good improved 
grain, fruit and stock farms anywhere from $S to $25 
per acre, the price .often being less than the first 
cost of buildings and fences. The only corrective 
for this unfortunate state of things is immigration 
— new men, new capital, and new enterprise for the 
development of these latent resources. 



202 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



MORGAN COUNTY. 



This county is located near the center of the State, 
160 miles west of St. Louis. 

SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS. 

The east part and north half is a rich prairie and 
farming country, well watered by flowing streams, 
the banks of which are lined by broad sti-ips of tim- 
ber. The western part of the county is high, rolling 
prairie, having equal timber advantages. The south- 
ern half is a hilly, timbered country, containing 
numerous living streams and springs of most excel- 
lent water. The bottoms in this portion of the county 
are rich, alluvial soil, finely adapted to" the cultiva- 
tion of corn, oats, wheat, rye, barley, potatoes and 
blue grass. The uplands have a lighter soil, l)ut with 
the aid of fertilizers produce equally as well, and 
grass grows spontaneously. In this portion of the 
county thousands of acres are owned ))y non-resi- 
dents, unfenced, and afford the finest possible jjas- 
ture almost through the entire year. Cattle turned 
upon this range in spring are ready for tlie butcher 
in June, and those kept on the range all the year 
require little additional feed. 

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES.' 

No county in the State offers greater advantages 
to the honest, industrious, thrifty immigrant than 
Morgan. The dull, weary routine of agriculture 
needs not alone be depended upon for a living; the 
prairie farms being nearly all contiguous to timber 
land, the immense range of wild pasture makes 
stock-raising exceedingly profitable, and it is not an 
uncommon sight to see some of the largest wheat 
and corn producers have from 200 to 300 head of cat- 
tle ranging on their pastures. Large numbers of 
horses and mules are annually raised, wliile fat hogs 
are marketed from October to June. All kinds of 
stock find a ready market at the farmer's door. 

MINERALS. 

Morgan County is exceedingly rich in minerals, 
lead having been found in every townsliip. There 
iire at present eight lead smelting and one slug 
furnace in the count}'. Vast deposits of iron abound 
in the southern part, and zinc and coi)per have been 
found in several localities. Although Morgan 
County has not been mapped by geologists Us a coal 
field, nevertheless excellent qualities of cannel and 
bituminous coal have been found in immense quan- 
tities, in different localities. Morgan is also rich iri 
the various clays. Yellow ochcrs and mineral paint 
are common occurrences. Kaolin is found in large 
quantities, while in the south and western part of 
the county a particularlj^ fine, white clay is found, 
well adapted for the finest pottery, and out of which 
the celebrated granite iron ware is made, now so 
common throughout the country. 

FRUIT CULTURE ' 
The climate of Morgan (Jounty being mild, large 
crops of fruit are annually raised. Especially is 



this true of apples, peaches, cherries, etc.; and 
France can scarcely excel this section for grapes. 

CLIMATE AND HEALTHFULNESS. 
The general health of the county is very good; 
epidemics and malarial diseases being a thing read 
of, but not experienced. This is attributable, in a 
measure, to the excellent natural drainage, both in 
town and county. There are no swamps in Morgan. 
The water from the springs flow either to the Osage 
or to the Missouri River. 

THE PEOPLE. 

The county is inhabited by a thrifty, industrious 
population, i-epresenting all nationalities- A large 
portion of the county is inhabited by Germans, 
whose frugality always insures them prosperous 
homes — Eastern, Xorthern alid Southern States 
contribute their quota of the citizens, but the 
largest increase of late has been from Kansas. The 
various religious denominations are well repre- 
sented, and recently a large influx of Mennonites 
and Dunkards has been received, a people whose 
sobriety and industry always make them a valuable 
acquisition. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

Under the fostering provisions of the State laws a 
liberal fund has been created for educational pur- 
poses, and every school sub-district has its school- 
house, where schools are open from four to eight 
months each year. Tliere are about eighty-five 
school-houses in the county. 

TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES. 

This county does not lack for transportation. On 
the south it is washed by tlie Osage liiver, navigable 
a great portion of the year. The Missouri Pacific 
Railroad passes thVough it in the. northwest, while 
the Osage Valley & Southern Kansas passes nearly 
through tlie center of the county from north to 
south ; and the Jefferson City & Southwestern Rail, 
road, completed recently, passfes through the center 
from east to west. Good public roads traverse the 
county in all directions, so that almost every farm 
is in sight of a public road. 

PRICE OF LANDS. 

The price of xmimproved lands ranges from two to 
five dollars per acre, wliile improved farms range 
from five to twenty-five dollars per acre, entirely 
owing to location and quality of improvements. 

The citizens of Morgan County extend a hearty 
Avelcomc to all enteriirising and industrious people 
to come and settle among them. The winters are 
short, the summers are long, the climate is delight- 
ful, and the country is healthy. Post-oflices, good 
schools, churches and mills are convenient to every 
farm house. Wages arc good, and farmers will find 
a ready market for everything they produce. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



203 



NEW MADRID COUNTY. 



New Madrid county is situated on the 36^ of north 
latitude, and 89^ 30' west longitude from Green- 
wich, or 12'^ 30' west of Washington City. It is 
bounded on the east by the Mississippi River; on 
the north by Mississippi and Scott; ou the west by 
Stoddard and Dunklin, and on the south by Pemis- 
cot Counties. Its surface is level and unbroken, its 
soil exceedingly fertile, its climate mild and salu- 
brious, and its commercial facilities ample for the 
cheap and speedy transportation of its surplus 
products to market. 

PHYSICAL FEATURES. 

New Madrid County is almost a level plane, slop- 
ing genth^ to the south and west, barely suflicient 
to carry off the superabundant rainfall, Which is 
discharged through its water drains into the Mis- 
sissippi and Little Rivers. It passes, perhaps, as 
great a variety of soil as anj' county in the State. 
Along the Mississippi River, from the City of New 
Madrid to its southern boundary, a distance of 
twenty miles, the soil presents the same character- 
istics as that which mark the borders of the Ohio 
below the falls. In the interior and northern portion 
there is bottom, prairie and timber or table lands. 
The bottom lands may be designated as high bottom 
and low bottom; tlie prairie and timber as upland 
and table land. 

SOILS. 

These lands present sucli a great variety of soil, 
and the different varieties pans into each otlier by 
such minute gradations, as to make it almost im- 
possible to point out anj- marked lines of separa- 
tion. Along tlie bank of the Mississippi, above 
overflow, between the city of New Madrid and the 
southern boundary of the county, there is found a 
porous clay sub-soil, over whicli is spread a vege- 
table mould, varying in depth from one to live feet. 
Passing to the interior from the center of this line, 
the same general characteristics are observable, 
with the exception of the beds of the dried-up lakes 
.that intervene, until near the eastern line of the 
*' sunk lands " of the Whitewater or Little River, 
where the soil gradually partakes more of the char- 
acter of low bottom. The central and northern 
portion of the county is divided between prairie, 
and high boittom or pi-airie or table land, whilst the 
western, and a large area of the nortlieasteru por- 
tion, is low bottom, subject to annual inundation. 

The designations of timber, prairie, or bottom, do 
not indicate the quality of the soil to any greater 
extent than is influenced by these physical rela- 
tions. These designations only refer to the natural 
divisions of the soil, without any reference to the 
fertility of either. Each separate division possesses 
soil of different grades, from the most productive, 
suited to growth of a great variety of crops, to such 
as are only valuable for the production 6f grass, or 
for pasture. 

The prairie lands are lighter, more easily culti- 
vated, but not so productive as the high, bottom or 
timbered lauds ; yet, from their yielding more kindly 



to the labor of cultivation, and the greater ease and 
less cost of utilizing them, in the early settlement 
of the county they were more generally sought for 
than tlie bottoms; but, as the settlement of the 
county progressed, and the greater fertility of the 
Moodlands became known, as also for tlie con- 
venience of timber for fuel, building and farming 
purposes, the timbered land asserted its supremacy 
and secured the attention of the settler. 

PRODUCTIONS. 

The bottom lands along the Mississippi River are 
by far tho most productive of all the land in New 
Madrid Jounty. The soil is a black, sandy loam, 
from three to six feet deep. It is mixed with clay, 
sand and decomposed vegetable matter, and in 
many places is annually enriched by the overflows 
of the river, M^hich render its fertility inexhaust- 
ible. The bottom lands are adapted to the produc- 
tion of Indian corn, wheat, oats, rye, cotton, 
sorghum, castor beans, and Irish and sweet pota- 
toes. The average yield of corn, per acre, on these 
bottom lands, with ordinary cultivation, is from 
fifty to sixty bushels; of wheat, twenty to twenty- 
five bushels; oats, fifty to sixty bushels; rye, 
twenty-five to thirty bushels; cotton, twelve to 
fifteen hundred pounds; and of Irish and sweet 
potatoes, from one to three hundred bushels. 

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. 

New Madrid County is well adapted to the gro^vth 
of many kinds of fruit. Apples, ijears, peaches, 
plums, cherries, and a great variety of smaller 
fruits and berries, do well, and, where proper care 
is taken in the choice of varieties and cultivation, 
fruit of excellent quality and delicious flavor ia 
produced in great abundance. Peaches are almost 
a never-failing crop, and raspberries, strawberries, 
currants, blackberries, and gooseberries, are indig- 
enous, and mature early. Grapes, where proper 
care is taken in pruning and culture, mature finely. 

Vegetables in endless variety, and of the most 
nutricious quality, grow finely in her soil, and her 
climate imparts to theiii a ricli and mellow flavor. 



There is a great variety of excellent timber in this 
county. Among the most important may be men- 
tioned the oak, of which there are fifteen varieties ; 
cyisress, two varieties ; ash, three varieties ; hickory, 
six varieties; maple, two vaiieties; cotton- wood, 
two varieties; gum, four varieties; besides these 
there are sycamore, black and honey locust, tupolo, 
catalpa, sassafras, mulberry, five varieties of ehn, 
two of pecan, black walnut, cherry, boxwood, hack- 
beri-y, coffeenut, and a great variety of smaller trees, 
shrubs and vines. 

area' and CULTIVATION. 

The area of New Madrid county is six hundred 

and eighty sections, or four hundred and thirty-five 

thousand and two hundred acres, of which four 



204 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



hundred and fifty-three sections, or two hundred 
and eighty-nine thousand nine hundred and twenty 
acres are low bottom ; the remainder of the county, 
two hundred and twenty-five sections, or bne hun- 
dred and forty-five thousand two hundred and 
eighty acres, is higli bottom, ])rairie and timbered 
hand. Of the whole area of the county, two liundred 
and eighty- seven thousand acres are assessed for 
taxes. The residue, belonging to the county, or to 
the General Government, is unoccupied. 

Of the taxable land, less than one-third, or about 
ninety-five thousand acres, ai-e in cultivation, leav- 
ing a total area of thi-ee hundred and forty thousand 
two hundred acres, or more than two-thirds of the 
county, still open to settlement and cultivation. 

MINERALS — MANUP^ACTUKING INTERESTS. 

The surface of New Madrid county being level, 
and of recent formation, she has but little mineral, 
none liaving as yet been discovered in paying 
quantities, except iron. In tlie northeastern por- 
tion of the county, large deposits of this mineral 
are formed, of the quality designated as " bog ore." 
It underlies the lowlands of the St. .lohn, often 
cropping out in the banks of the lakes and bayous 
which intersect Uhat locality. This ore would be 
easily mined, as it lays near the sui-face, and inex- 
haustible forests of timber, covering the soil in 
which it is imbedded, furnish a cheap and ready 
means for its reduction. 

The advantages possessed by New Madrid County 
for manufacturing of various kinds is unsurpassed. 
Her extensive forests of timber furnish material for 
the manufacture of all kinds of agricultural imple- 
ments, and of every article of iise of which wood is 
a component part, as also fuel to propel machinery. 
The excellent quality of her wheat, which always 
commands the highest price in market, would fur- 
nisli employment for one or two first-class mills. 
Her cotton fields hold out tlieir snowy treasures 
invitingly to the spindle, whilst her majestic fields 
of corn, her luxuriant growtli of vegetables, her 
immense herds of cattle and other stock, give assur- 



ance of an abundant and cheap supply of the neces- 
saries of life. 

Mills, distilleries, cooper shops, agricultui-al im- 
plement manufacturers, wagon and caiTiage 
makers, cotton factories, blacksmiths, tanneries, 
shoemakers, builders and cabinet makers, would all 
find this a desirable and profitable place to locate 
their business. 

THE COMMEKCIAL ADVANTAGES 

of New Madrid County are unsurpassed by those of 
any county in the State. Her entire eastern front is 
washed by the Mississippi River, which affords her 
an uninterrupted channel ©f communication with 
the Southern market at New Orleans, from which 
she is distant but a four days' journey by steamboat ; 
and by means of the daily ])ackets plying between 
St. Louis and ports below, and by boats going up the 
Ohio River, she has ready access to all the markets 
north and east. 

On her northern border is the Cairo, Arkansas & 
Texas Railroad, a branch of the St. Louis, Iron 
Mountain & Southern, and crossing her center, 
from the town of New Madrid west to the interior 
counties, is the Little River Valley and Arkansas 
Railroad, now in successful operation. Add to 
these a well -improved system of wagon roads, and 
it will readily be conceded that ample facilities are 
possessed for the ti-ansportation to market of aj.1 
the surplus product of the forest, mine, field, farm 
and manufactory. 

Being above the freezing point on the river and 
below obstructions to navigation, occasioned by 
low water,, with ample inland channels of com- 
munication, with tlie railroads and river, a mild, 
salubriMus and healthful climate, rich and produc- 
tive soil, an honest and industrious population, 
New Madrid County offers as 

GREAT INDUCEMENTS 

for the seeker of a comfortable and permanent 
home as car* be found in any locality in the great 
vallev. 



NEWTON COUNTY. 



Newton County is situated in the extreme south- 
western part of the State, and is bounded on the 
north by Jasper County; on tlie west l)y the State of 
Kansas ; on the south by McDonald County, and on 
the east by the Counties of Lawi-ence and Barry. 

WATER FEATURES. 

No defect can render a country so little desirable 
for habitation as its destitution of water. On the 
other hand, nothing affords greater pleasure than 
the contemplation of such streams, as in their 
meanderings irrigate the fruitful lawns of Newton 
County, and supply illimitable power for all sorts of 
machinery. 

Shoal River is the principal stream, on account of 
its numerous mill sites and its uniformity of fall, 
averaging about eight feet to the mile along the 



whole forty miles of its length in this county. It 
rises in Barry County, and after receiving the waters 
of several tributaries, comes into this county at a 
point east of Neosho, a beautifully clear stream of 
great capacity for driving machinery. It passes 
into Kansas Avithin two miles of the northwest 
corner of the county, having grown in volume quite 
one-half, and gathered at the Grand Falls, some 
five miles above, behind a natural dam of limestone, 
it plunges over thirteen feet perpendicularly, form- 
ing a beautiful and imposing cataract. The other 
streams o{ tlie county are Indian Creek and its two 
branches, named respectively North and South 
Fork, Buffalo Creek, Lost Creek, AVarren Creek, 
Five-Mile Creek, I'ock Creek, Center Creek, and 
Jones' Creek. These all flow alternatively through 
timber and prairie. The beds of these are at limes 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



205 



gravelly, and again of limestone formation. The 
lai-ger streams teem with food llsh of moderate 
size, c.onsistinsc chiefly of perch, sucker, cat, pike, 
bass, drum and buffalo. These beautiful streams, 
with their alluvial bottoms, fertile prairies, ready 
for the plowshare of the husbandman, and the soft, 
salubrious climate, were some of the attractions 
that induced the early settlers to come hundreds of 
miles from the last frontiersman,, and select his 
home in Newton County. 

CLIMATE AND HEALTHFULNESS. 

The climate of Newton County is mild, temperate, 
and salubrious; lying, as it does, between latitude 
36° 30' and 37° north, it is not subject to extremes, 
either of heat or cold — the thermometer rarely 
rising over 98' Fahrenheit, and seldom falling below 
zero. The spicy breezes, and refreshing showers, of 
spring, are only equaled by tlie balmy, hazy, de- 
lightful Indian summer of autumn. 

Tlie thermal condition of this county is at a safe 
distance from southern epidemics, or pernicious 
fevers of the South, and diseases of the lungs and 
air-passages, incident to the extreme cold climate 
of the North, as well. ■ 

The prevailing diseases in this county are mild, 
intermitting and remitting, fevers — mostly occur- 
ring in autumn, and the early part of winter — with 
pneumonia, in the latter part, of winter and early 
part of spring. Nothing like an epidemic has pre- 
vailed in this county for the last thirty years, ex- 
cept in the winter of 1856-7 — epidemic dysentery — of 
which disease there has been only a sporadic case, 
now and then, since that period. Typhoid fever is 
almost unknown in Newton County, and that fearful 
scourge, known as scarlatina, is extremely rare. 

SCHOOLS. 

There are about six thousand children of school 
age in Newton County. The territory is divided 
into near ninety school districts, in which schools 
are open annually from four to nine months. The 
fund to pay teachers is one-fourth of the State rev- 
enue, with special school tax and other income from 
special funds. Graded schools in three points of 
the county, Neosho, Granby and Newtonia. In ad- 
dition to the public schools, private, or subscription 
schools are occasionally taught j and, at the county 
seat, Neosho, has been established an academy that 
is open forty weeks in the year. 

STOCK-RAISING, AGRICULTURAL AN~> GEN- 
ERAL PRODUCTIONS. 

Stock-i-aising in Newton County vra» engaged In 
to some extent in the early settlement of the coun- 
try ; horses, mules and cattle being chiefly the kind 
found most profitable. The horses and mules found 
a ready market in the South in the sugar and cotton 
regions. For oxen, at Independence and Fort Leav- 
enworth, there was a great demand in the early 
times, they being used to a great extent as draft ani- 
mals for the Santa Fe and New Mexico trade. At 
the close of the war, there was but little stock re- 
maining in the country, and that of inferior quality. 
Since that time, however, there has been a rapid 
improvement in both numbers and breeding, so 
much, indeed, that now are found cattU hogs and 



sheep of breeds not to be surpassed in the United 
States ; and the people are beginning to manifest an 
interest in blooded stock such as they have never 
shown before. As a showing of the number and 
value of the animals shipped and driven from this 
county, the following figures may be relied upon as 
very nearly correct: 

There has been shipped, as shown by the books of 
the railroad company, from A])ril 1.5, 1879, to April 
15,1880: 

Cattle, 67 cars, 1,:346, atpo per head. . .$40,400 
Hogs, 126 " 7,560, " 10 " ... 75,600 
Sheep, 8 " .529, " 'J " ... 1,560 
Horses and mules, 7 cars, 133, at $75 per 
head 9,97.5 

Total value $127 ,.535 

It may be presumed there has been three times the 
number of stock driven out of the county that was 
shipped ; estimating from this data, there has been 
driven out: 

Cattle, 4,038, at $15 per head $60,496 

Sheep, 1,560, " 2 " 3,120 

Horses and mules, 399, at $75 per head 29,925 

Total value driven $ 93,541 

Total value shipped 127,535 ' 

Grand total $221,076 

There has been stock shipped from Pierce City, 
near the eastern boundary of the county, and at 
Joplin, near the southwest corner of the county. 
Quite a large amount is thus left out in the account, 
purposely, to offset what n\ay have been brought 
from other counties to this. Plenty of nutritious 
grasses and pure water, necessary to the growth 
and health of stock, are to be found here. Wild 
grasses particularly abound, covering hundreds and 
thousands of acres of unimproved lands, making fine 
summer ranges. Of the tame grasses, such as blue 
grass, timothy, clover, millet and Hungarian, grow 
well here, and make excellent crops of hay ; and all 
kinds of grains, such as corn, wheat, rye, oats and * 
barley, do well here, making the prudent and in- 
dustrious farmer both happy and prosperous. In 
fact, the farming facilities are surpassed by but few 
counties in the State, if any. Forty-seven crops 
have been taken off one farm, with bujt little differ- 
ence in the yield. 

Tobacco grows finely, the latitude being about the 
same as the great tobacco region of Virginia. 

SOILS AND FINANCIAL CONDITION. 

Newton County is one of the border counties of 
the southwest part of the State, with McDonald 
County only lying south. It contains 610 square 
miles of land, nearly equally divided with timber 
and prairie, all producing well. 

The numerous streams of the county are kept 
flowing the year round by never-failing springs; 
and these afford the best kind of water-power for 
all kinds' of machinery, much of which is already 
in operation. The rainfall averages about forty- 
five inches per year, an^ the lauds are not subject 
to severe drouth. Population, about 20,000 and the 
total taxable property, about $3,000,000. There is no 
bonded indebtedness, and the rate of taxation is 
one and thirty one -hundredths dollars per one 



20() 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



hundred dollars. Two railroads pass through the 
counly with some flfty miles of railroad bed; other 
roads in contemplation. The land is composed 
principally of two kinds of soil: 1 — The coarse 
gravel, or black soil ; is rich, easily worked, and 
produces well. 2 — Tlie mulatto soil, a rich, reddish 
loam, well suited to the growth of corn, wheat and 
othej- cereals. 

THE GROWING COMMERCE 

of this county is owing Jargely to the mineral re- 
sources, railroad facilities and productiveness of 
the soil. Besides Neosho, the county seat, there are 
a number of other flourishing towns that afford im- 
portant centers of trade and commerce ; and, taking 
these into consideration, with the heavy mining in- 
terest of the county, it is safe to say that commerce 
has trebled in the last few years, and it is impossible 
to foretell Avhat it will be in the next decade. Some 
Idea may be formed of this by the following state- 
ment of shipment of products : 

Value. 
\\Tieat— 366 car loads, 400 bushels 

to car $ 14,660 00 

Lead— 76 car loads, 24,000 lbs. to 

car 48,6-20 00 

Zinc— 1,04:? car loads, 26,000 lbs. to 

car 176,352 00 

Tobacco— 13 car loads, 34,000 lbs. 

to car 15,600 00 

Tripoli— 6 car loads, 20,000 lbs. to 
car..... 2,400 00 

Total valuation $257,632 00 

Thus, it will be seen that, by aggregatiug with the 
above stock shipped and delivered, amounting to 
$1.'56,076.00, a grand total of $.590,060.00 as the commer- 
cial transactions of Newton County foi- one year. 
There are some minor products which might be 
mentioned, but sufficient has been said to show that 
Newton County affords abundant attractions for 
the imm^igrant. 

GRAPE CULTURE. 

The first vineyard was planted in Newton County 
in 1866, and since then, more than two hundred 
varieties of American grapes, with the following 
results : The Concord and all other varieties of the 
eastern Fox grape species (bitus Lurbrusa), do not 
fail to make strong, healthy growth, and set tine 
crops of fruit every spring. But the grapes very 
often rot and fall off when nearly grown, and only 
in seasons of great drouth do they remain healthy 
and bring good returns. This whole family of vines, 
to which belong the large majority of our cultivated 
grapes, is, therefore, being abandoned, not only 
here, but everywhere in the Middle and Southern 
States of the Union. More promising are grapes of 
the winter grape species (V. Kiparia). Highly im- 
proved varieties of this species have lately been 
introduced. They are all being tried here and prom- 
ise well ; but longer experience is necessary before 
it ean be safely said they are free enough from rot 
for general cultivation in the South. 

The only grapes that have so far given entire 
satisfaction here, belong to the species (V. .Etesti- 
valis), generally known as the summer grapes. 
Two varieties of these species, the Norton's Vir- 
ginia, and Cynthiana, have been cultivated since 



1866. Thej" have never failed, even in the worst sea- 
sons, to produce large, healthy crops ; and we can 
now safely say, they are the sul-est fruit grown here. 
The true home of the northern iEtestivalis, or 
summer grape, is Southwest Missouri, Arkansas 
and Indian Territory, and this probably accounts 
for the fact that until of late years so little atten- 
tion was paid to these vines by the leading grape- 
growers of the L^nited States, living further north 
and east.' But this is fast changing now. The 
" Neosho," a wild summer grape, of Newton Counly, 
is being planted, not only in a large portion of this 
country, but also in France, where American grapes 
are used to re-establish the vineyards destroyed by 
phyloxera, and the native summer grapes are pre- 
ferred to all others. And yet, this grape is only the 
forerunner of what is to come_. For the last four- 
teen years, the vine-growers have made it their 
special business to collect and cultivate the finest 
wild summer grapes of Southwest Missouri, Ar- 
kansas and Indian Territory, as well as to raise im- 
proved seedlings from them. The best and healthi- 
est of this large collection will soon Ije named and 
introduced, to the ])ublic. Among them will be the 
first and only large summer grapes in cultivation. 
Judging fnjifi the general satisfaction the Neosho is 
giving, it may be expected their introduction will 
give new imi)etus to grape culture, especially in the 
Southern States. 

FRUITS. 

Wild fruits of many sorts grow here in abun- 
dance, and of good quality —the grape, persimmon, 
paw-paw, plum, haw, mulberry, gooseberry, black- 
berry, raspberry and strawberry. Cultivated fruits 
of kinds adapted to the latitude succeed admirably 
in nxost cates, with iailurcs of ci-ops as rare as in 
any locality in the Western States. Orchards, well 
selected, well planted, and well cared for, como to 
bearing early, and produce large crops of fine fruit, 
of excellent flavor. Five years from the nursery, 
most varieties of apples or pears come into bearing, 
with only three or four years for some. Peaches 
frequently bloom the second year from the bud or 
seed. Pear trees (standard Bartlett's), set four 
years ago, are now showing fruit, and dwarfs, two 
years' set, bloom abundantly. 

The Morello cherries succeed here better than the 
Heart or Bigarrean. Trees and fruit of the former 
are easily raised — the latter with difficulty. The 
plum has the same enemies here as elsewhere; but 
the Chickasaw and Wild Goose seldom fail to bring 
large cr-ops without labor. 

In short, it may be safely aflii-med, that if one 
desires to cultivate here any of the fruits of a tern 
perate climate, by using good judgment in selecting 
his location, and in choosing his varieties, and with 
industry and care in setting and cultivating them, 
he incurs almost no risk of failure to produce large 
aud regular crops of fine and excellent fruit. 

MINERALS. 

The lead and zinc mines of Newton County and 
Southwestern Missouri are certainly the richest ever 
found in the United States, and seem inexhaustible. 
The mineral formations here do not indicate the ex- 
istence of any valuable ores, except lead and line. 
The lead ore is principally galena, i. e., sulphide of 
lead. Occasionally, large deposits of carbonate of 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



207 



lead are found. The only other ore of lead found 
in this vicinity is pyro-morphite or phosphate of 
lead. This exists in very small quantities. In 
zinc ores, at the Granby Mine and immediate 
vicinity, principally silicate is found ; some blende, 
or sulphide, with a little carbonate. 

At Joplin, Jasper County, blende predominates. 
In Granby and vicinity are tiie richest zinc (silicate) , 
mines ever discovered. A correct report of the 
production of zinc and lead ores'lrom the mines of 
Granby and immediate neighborhood, for the past 
fifteen months, can be given. 

First six mouths, IS'9, zinc, pounds. 6,444,700 
Last " " " " " 7,564,800 

First three months, ISSO, pounds 6,655,300 



Total 20,664,800 

During this period from the same mines were 
raised, of lead, ore, 2,927,129 pounds, and heavy 
rains interferred with mining for two months in 
the year. The great difference in the quantity of 
zinc and lead raised arises from tlie fact that 
silicate of zinc usualh' lies in much larger bodies 
than lead ore. While the silicate is found in sheets, 
vai-ying from one to eight feet in thickness, the 
lead is usually found in detached masses or blocks. 
The zinc and lead above mentioned are the results 
of the labor of two hundred and fifty miners ; and 
would compare favorably, in a pecuniary point of 
view, with the product of that much labor, either in 
agriculture or the mechanical arts. The mines give 
an excellent market to the farmer and gardener; 
and these mines are surrounded by good agricul- 
tural lands, for sale by the St. Louis & San Fran- 
cisco Railway Company. This company no longer 
holds a mineral reservation in their land contracts — 
a wise move. There is some good building stone. 
Sand is scarce in Newton County. Limestone in 
abundance, and good sandstone for l)tiiilding. 

The mines of Southwest Missouri are in their in- 
fancy. Thousands of acres of mineral lands are 
untouched and for sale by the Railroad Company. 
There are (to the practical eye of the miner) certain 
surface indications that denote the existence of 



lead and zinc ores. None have ever become so ex- 
pert as to be able to locate exactly the bodies of ore, 
except by accident; yet, one familiar with the 
handwriting of Nature, can safely say whether those 
ores exist in any given eighty acres of land, where 
the indications have an outcrop. 

There are some very largC caverns in these mines 
containing very beautiful stalactitic and stalagmitic 
f oi-mations of carbonate of lime. 

MANUFACTURIlifG INTERESTS. 

Newton County has large and growing manufac- 
turing interests. Her ten wagon factories have a 
wide reputation, and made last year about 2,500 
wagons. Five of these factories are at Neosho, two 
at Newtonia, two at Granby, and one at Eitchey. 
Neosho has an extensive plow factory, which turns 
out 4,000 plows annually. She also has a foundry 
and machine-shop, as well as a planing miU. There 
are eleven flouring mills in the' county; one woolen 
mill at Neosho, and a patent lime kiln. Martling 
has two tobacco factories and one cigar factory; 
also, a piano-dulcimer factory. The Granby lead 
furnaces are among the most complete in the 
United States. 

RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL. 

Newton County is not behind in her religious and 
social interests. She has twenty-two church edi- 
fices — eight of which ai-e at Neosho, thi-ee at Gi'an- 
by, three at Newtonia, and the remaining eight are 
in the rural districts. There are manj' more church 
organizations which have no buildings, but which 
occupy some of our eighty-one school-houses. The 
following denominations are represented in our 
county: The Missionary Baptists, the Free Will 
Baptists, the Methodist Episcopal, the Methodist 
Episcopal, South; the Protestant .Methodists, the 
Presbyterians, the Cumberland Presbyterians, the 
Congregationalists, the Roman Catholics, the Chris- 
tians, the Adventists, the Dnnkards, the Mennon- 
ites, and the Episcopalians 



NODAWAY COUNTY. 



Nodaway i» one of the best agricultural counties 
in Missouri. 

SOIL AND SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS. 

The soil is a deep, rich, black loam, so closely re- 
sembling tlie best i)rairie lands of Illinois that it is 
difficult to detect any difference. 

About seven-eighths of the county is prairie and 
bottom land, and one-eighth timber land; and 
almost every acre — prairie, bottom or timber — is 
susceptiWe of a high state of cultivation. There is 
plentv of timber for all time to come. 

The county is watered by three large streams, 
flowing from north to south, and water-power is 
abundant. 

Some coal mines are now worked, yet the coal in- 
terest is in its infancv. 



THE CLIMATE. 

The winters are usually dry and healthy ; the sum - 
mer seasons are none too long, nor too hot. Health 
is- good. Water, olrwells, springs and streams, and 
good well-water — limestone — are easily found any- 
where. Depthof wells, flfteen to sixty feet; average 
and usual depth, twenty-four feet. 

PRODUCTIONS. 

The chief industry is agriculture, growing and 
feeding cattle and hogs. The principal crop is corn ; 
yet wheat, oats, barley, rye and other grains are 
grown very extensively. More than three -fifths of 
the county is now under cultivation. 



208 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



WATER-POWEK. 



There are a good many water-mills, distributed at 
convenient places on the NodoWay, the One Hun- 
dred and Two and Platte Rivers, and many mill 
sites on each of said streams not yet utilized. 

SHEEP-RAISING AND STOCK-GROWING. 

Sheep-growing is an industry rapidly on the in- 
crease. The undulating prairie lands are well 
adapted to the sheep interest. There are woolen 
mills, where excellent cloths are made. 

FRUITS. 

Apples, peaches, and pears, do well here. The 
grape is grown with ease; a sure crop, and good 
wine is made therefrom. Small fruits do well. 

EDUCATIONAL — RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL. 

The social privileges are excellent. There are one 
hundred and fifty-four school-houses in the county, 
built at a cost of from four hundred dollars to eight 
hundred dollars each. 

The County Scliool Fund exceeds twenty- three 
thousand dollars, and is annually increasing. There 



are over thirty churches in the county, representing 
the leading Christian sects. 

Maryville, the county seat, has a good public 
library. There are sLx newspapers, and the general 
tone of society is good. Peace and plenty prevail. 
A man may think and vote as he pleases , his right 
is unquestioned ; and he stands the same — democrat, 
republican, or otherwise— none to molest or disturb 
him. 

RAILROADS 



run through the county, so that it ia a matter of 
great ease to get about. There are through lines to 
Chicago, and the East; St. Louis, and the East and 
South, Omaha and the West. 

FINANCIAL. 

The county is out of debt; taxes are light, and 
times are good. The roads are well bridged and 
repaired, leading in every direction. 

FOR FARMING AND GRAZING, 

this section is not surpassed by any county in the 
West. The people are industrious, intelligent, en- 
terprising, and are determined to succeed. 



OREGON COUNTY. 



Oregon County is one of the southern tier of | 
counties, and was organized in the year 1845, and 
contains an area of over 500,000 acres. This is one 
of the favored counties of South Missouri. Unlike 
other counties of that section, it is quite varied in 
character, the north and northeastern ])art being 
hilly and high rolling plateau, and principally cov- 
ered with pine forests; yet, there is an immense 
amount of good farming land in that part of the 
county, known as the Irish settlement. 

CHARACTER OF THE LAND. 

In the south and southwestern part of the county 
the greater part of the land is arable and fitted for 
cultivation, the timber consisting mostly of hickory 
and oak, the soil being a rich, sandy loam, and in 
that part of the county there is a greater amount of 
river and creek bottom land, perhaps, than in any 
other county of that section of the State, for, by 
referring to the map of Missouri, it will be seen 
that the river. Eleven Points, ^inds through the 
county, in such a way that it is over fifty miles from 
where the river enters it on the west to where it 
crosses the line on tlie southeast part. Freder- 
icks' Fork runs almost through the entire county, 
and there is scarcely a place, from its liead to its 
mouth, but there is farming land of the very best 
quality; then the Warm Fork, of Spring River, 
in the southwestern part, running through over 
twenty miles of the county, can hardly be surpassed 
in the State for its quality of farming land, and, 
there are many small tributaries to these streams 
mentioned, the valleys of which are very rich in 
soil. In the last named portion of the county. 



that is, south of the river. Eleven Points, there is a 
vast amount of valley and uplands, or hickory flats, 
all of which is good farming land, and easily pre- 
pared for the plow and put into cultivation. This is 
also one of the best watered counties in the State, 
and every foot of land not in cultivation, whether 
it be valley, plateau or hill-side, is covered from 
the first of April to tlie middle of November of each 
year with a rich growth of wild grass, which is very 
fine for gi-azing and stock-raising. There are sev 
eral natural curiosities in the county, in the way of 
large springs or fountains, one of which boils up 
almost at the top of a mountain, and covers an 
area of over one acre, the water running ott down 
the mountain at the rate of twenty miles an hour, 
making quite a river, and being an inexhaustible 
power for machinery. 

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 
The soil is adapted to almost everything— wlieat, 
corn, cotton, oats, rye, potatoes, and peanut-s, etc. ; 
in fact, nearly everything that grows from Maine to 
Florida, can be grown successfully In this county. 
In cotton alone, for the year 1879, there were raised 
in the limits of the county 1,620 bales, of five hundred 
pounds each, which, at fifty dollars per bale, yielded 
a profit of $81,000; and it is estimated that, for the 
year 1880, there will be double that amount raised; 
as to corn, it would be difilcult to estimate the 
amount that was raised, but it may be safely said 
that there is more corn now than the present popu- 
lation can consume during the season. It sells from 
twenty to thirty-five cents per bushel, which Is 
evidence that it is plenty. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



209 



STOCK-RAISING 

has been found very profitable, as stock will live 
most of the year without feed, hogs living, and even 
fattening, the entire winter, on the acorns of the 
woods. It is especially adapted to sheep -raising; 
A great portion of the tillable land is yet in a wild 
state, unimproved, and can be bought for a nominal 
sum, and these lands are not owned by for- 
eign speculators and land "holders," but belong 
mostly to residents of the county, who are 
Avilling to sell fairly, and are now almost daily 
selling them and exchanging them for personal 
property to immigrants and "bona flde" set- 
tlers. 



POPULATION, SCHOOLS AND COUNTY SEAT. 

Oi-egon County has a population of over 6,000 ; has 
thirty-eight school districts, organized and in good 
running order ; has a permanent school fund, arising 
from the sale of the sixteenth section and other 
sources, to the amount of $2,230, the interest on 
which is applied annually to the support of jjublic 
schools ; besides, the county gets annually from the 
State school fund about $1,800 — all of which, with 
a small tax raised by each district, supports a fine 
public school from four to six months each year. 

Alton is the county seat, situated near the center, 
and is a business point of no mean importance. 
There are other small towns in the county, viz. : 
Thomasville, Clifton, and Payne City or Suttonville. 



OSAG-E COUNTY. 



Osage County is located in the central portion of 
the State, having the Missouri Kiver for its northern 
boundary ; the Osage River and Cole County is the 
western boundary, while Maries and Miller Counties 
join it on the south, and Gasconade county bounds 
it on the east. 

In area it contains about 600 square miles, and 
there are 368,471 acres on the assessor's books. The 
total valuation of the county, for the year 1S79, was 
$2,276,594— real estate, $1,257,073; personal property, 
$1,019,501. 

GENERAL RESOURCES. 

The resources of the county are very abundant, in 
timber and iron ore — the latter in exhaustless quan- 
tity. Lead ore, too, has been found in the county, 
but the localities are known to only a few persons. 
Coal indications are very few, and thus far no coal 
bank has been worked. 

The timber is composed of several varieties of 
the oak, walnut, hickory, wild cherry, pecan, elm, 
linn or basswood, hackberry, maple, sycamore, ash, 
Cottonwood, etc. On the river bluffs cedar is found. 

In addition to the above, the following wild fruit 
trees and shrubs abound: Persimmon, crab-apple, 
thorn apple, paw-paw, plum, black haw, cherry, 
blackberrj', raspberry, etc. The wild grape grows 
most luxuriantly in all sections of the county, both 
on the high and low lands. 

PHYSICAL FEATURES AND PRODUCTIONS. 

The county is greatly diversified and abounds in 
hills and valleys, also bottom lands and flats. The 
hills are not high mountain ranges, but usually gen- 
tle declivities, and many are cultivated. The valleys 
are productive, and the bottoms exceedingly so, 
while the flats repay the farmer well for liis labor. 
Corn is the staple crop ; wheat next in value. Oats 
are raised in abundance. Rye, buckwheat, Hunga- 
rian grass, flax, etc., produce good crops, but are not 
extensively cultivated. 

Hogs and cattle are raised for market, so are sheep 
and iTOultry,but not so much capital invested in the 
two last named as might be, at a good profit. 



The principal business of the people is farming. 
A few are engaged in converting the timber into rail- 
road ties, for use on the " woodless plains of the far 
West." There are no statistics of the " tie busi- 
ness," but it would be within limit to say, Osage 
County furnished $40,000 worth of ties within the 
last twelve montlis. 

The manufacturing resources of the county are 
entirely undeveloped, and are worthy of considera- 
tion and investigation, by those who desire, or 
intend, to invest in manufacturing projects. 

The county is well watered by the Missouri, Osage, 
and Gasconade Rivers, and unnumbered springs, 
creeks and branches. 

TRANSPORTATION. 

The means of transportation in the county are not 
confined to the Missouri Pacific Railroad, which 
passes through the north part of the county, from 
east to west. In addition to the facilities afforded 
by this road, the Osage and Gasconade Rivers, as 
well as the Missouri River, offer ways to market. 

FINANCIAL CONDITION — RELIGIOUS AND 
EDUCATIONAL. 

Osage county has no " railroad bonds" in market, 
of any sort — good, bad or indifferent; nor bonds of 
any other kind. 

The county is out of debt, has one of the best 
court houses in the State, and a stone jail, with 
cages. The financial condition is most excellent. 
There are sixty-four organized school districts in 
the county; many of these districts have two schools 
in session at once, and the school term ranges from 
six to eight months. 

The religious denominations are all, or nearly all, 
represented in the county. The Catholics h.ave 
many large congregations, and several elegant 
churches. The other denominations also have 
chui'ch buildings in various localities, and all are 
well attended by attentive congregations. 

There is an institute at Westphalia, of high grade, 
presided over by a superioress, assisted by several 
Sisters. This school is under the exclusive control 



210 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



of the Catholics. At this institute many of the sons 
and daughters of Osage hare obtained a good edu- 
cation, and others are following in their footsteps. 
Loose Creek also has a school of high grade, con- 
ducted by the Catholic Sisters. Chamois has a fine 
school building, and a first-class school. Linn has 
two schools ; but the school houses are not large 
enough to contain all the pupils. Dauphine is able 
to have a school term of about ten months in the 
year. Eichfountain and Keoltztown have parish 
schools, in addition to their public schools. 

MILLS, ETC. 

At Chamois, Dauphine, Loose Creek, Linn, "West- 
phalia, Owen's Mill, Cooper Hill, Linnwood, "Wel- 
come, and Fredericksburg, there are steam mills, 
where the people get their grain converted into 
flour and meal, and their timber into lumber. In 
addition to the above, there is a flour and saw mill; 
also, a carding machine, on the bank of the Gas- 
conade River, said river furnishing the motive 
power. Stores and blacksmith shops are not con- 
fined to towns— they are to be found everywhere, 
all over the county. 

GENERAL ADVANTAGES. 

There are twenty-four post-offices in the county, 
and mail facilities are good. 

Wagonmakers, plowmakers, shoemakers, harness - 
makers, etc., are located at various points in the 
county. 

Building material is abundant, in the shape of 
limestone, sandstone, cotton-rock, and brick-clays. 
Timber, in abundance, everywhere. Sand, of ex- 
cellent quality, is abundant, on the river banks and 
in the creeks. 

Apples, peaches, pears, plums, quinces, cherries, 
etc., are cultivated extensively, and produce ex- 
cellent crops of luscious fruit. Many varieties of 
the grape are cultivated, and superb wines can be 
made. 

In political matters, the county is " mixed." 
About one-half the county oflicers are Democrats; 
the balance are Republicans. The Democrats had 
a majority, in 1876, on the presidential ticket ; while 
the Republicans had a majority for their candidate 
for Governor. 

It is unknown who will be elected in this county 
to office until the votes are counted — so alosely 



yoked are the two parties — and this nearness of 
votes is, no doubt, a great benefit to the county. 

TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

There are several thriving villages iu the county. 
Linn is the county seat. 

"Westphalia is near the Osage River, and is em- 
phatically a German town. 

Richfountain is near the Gasconade River, and is 
also a German town. 

Keoltztown is near the Maries County line, and is 
also German. 

Loose Creek village is some five miles from the 
Osage, and its inhabitants are principally Ger- 
mans. 

Dauphine, as the name indicates, is a French 
village, located iu the northwest corner of the 
county, near the Missouri River, on the Missouri 
Pacific Railroad. 

Medora — on the same road and on the banks of the 
same river — is quite a shipping point for ties. 

Chamois is located on the Missouri Pacific Rail- 
road, not far from the Missouri River, and is the 
largest town in the county. The railroad company 
have a round-house and machine shops here. Pop- 
ulation mixed. 

Fredericksburg, on the bank of the Gasconade 
River, is quite a shipping point. 

Cooper's Hill, or Gasburg, is located about half a 
mile from the Gasconade, and is quite a business 
point. 

Linnwood is located on Contrary Creek, and is a 
business center for that neighborhood. 

Castle Rock is a shipping point on the Osage 
River — only about ei^t miles from Jefferson 
City. 

Owens' Mill is on the Gasconade River, and has 
become noted for the business transacted there in 
shipping, or rather rafting, ties. 

Beoger's Store is the center of a large neighbor- 
hood trade; store, blacksmith-shop, etc. 

Feuersville is quite a trading point. 

Mount Hill, store, blacksmith-shop and two chui-ch 
buildings. 

Babbtown, Belle, Bailey's Creek, Byron, Ividdridge 
and Peachland, are simply county post-offices, with- 
out being ti-ade centers. 

Surprise is a small trade center, lately estab- 
lished. 



OZARK COUNTY. 



Ozai-k County is located in the center of the 
southernmost tier of counties, and is bounded on 
the north by Douglass County ; on the south by the 
State of Arkansas ; east by Howell County, and west 
by Taney County. The present isopulation of the 
county numbers about 6,500. 

SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS. 

The hilla and valleys give Ozark County a pleas- 
antly diversified landscape. The soil is varied. 



The uplands afford fine grazing as well as fann- 
ing lands, and the bottom lands are richly produc- 
tive. There is an abundance of grass on the hills 
and among the timber for stock, and also plenty of 
fine, running water. The principal streams of the 
county are Bryant's Fork of "Wliite River, which 
flows into the North Fork of "White River, and a 
number of smaller tributaries of the same rivers. 
There is scarcely a square mile of laud in the county 
not well supplied with water, and drouth is some- 
thing unknown. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



211 



PKODUCTIONS AND MARKETS. 
■ The principal productions of the soil are corn, 
wheat, oats, rye, barley, potatoes, tobacco, sorghum, 
and every variety of fruit and vegetables suitable to 
this latitude. 

The county being an " off railroad " county, as yet 
the chief market for the farmers of Ozark is in 
Arkansas, where the cotton raisers create a demand 
for all the surplus productions. 

CLIMATE AXD HEALTH. 

No county in the State is blessed with a more 
salubrious climate, and the general health is at all 
times good. Very few suffer from miasmatic dis- 
eases, and consumption, unless hereditary, is 
unknown. The pure water and fresh hill breezes 
bring about this pleasant sanitary condition. 

TIMBER SUPPLY. 

Ozark County is remarkably well timbered, and 
the supply can never run short. Saw mills are 
found in various parts of the county, and their pro- 
ducts form a considerable item of public wealth. 
White and red oak, post-oak and pine, with black- 
jack and hickoiy, are the prevailing forest varieties ; 
besides, water oak, black walnut, cypress, red cedar, 
elder, elm, and dog- wood. 

RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES. 
The county is well supplied with public schools, 
supported by the State and county school funds, 
and churches of the various denominations afford 
opportunities for religious worship. The tone of 
society is good, notwithstanding the isolated loca- 



tion of the county, and crime is a rarity, but whea 
committed is punished with vigor. 

COUNTY FINANCES. 

In 1876, by the report of the State Auditor, Ozark 
County had 46,044 acres of assessable land, valued 
at $125,780, and 5S town lots, valued at $4,865; 1,741 
horses, at $52,983; 400 mules and asses, at $13,5.57; 
4,483 cattle, at $38,559; 3,849 sheep, at $3,895; 7,926 
hogs, at $9,518. The total taxable wealth, including 
other personal property, was $289,500. Since that 
time there has been a steady increase. The rate of 
taxation is low, as the tax-payer is not burdened 
with bonded indebtedness, as in many other 
counties. 

PRICE OF LANDS. 

Land is cheap in Ozark. Owing to its location, it 
is thinly settled at present, although immigration 
seems to be setting in tliis direction. Government 
lands still remain for entering, and farms can be 
purchased at from tliree dollars upward, according 
to improvements. 

TOWNS. 

Gainesville, the county seat, is a flourishing to-vvn, 
and offers good business opportunities. The other 
towns in the county, all of which are favorably 
located for future growth, are St. Leger, Rock- 
bridge, Heth, Alinaratha, Isabella and Piland's 
Store. 

The advantages offered by Ozark County to the 
immigi-ant are substantial. The lands are rich and 
productive and cheap; the climate healthful, and 
society good. He can live cheaply, and, by coming 
eai-ly, grow with the growth of the county. 



PEMISCOT COUNTY. 



This county lies in the extreme southeastern 
portion of the State. 

Pemiscot County, taking its name from a bayou 
of the same name, originally called "Pemascon," 
and meaning "rich mud," was once a part of 
New Madrid County, from which it was stricken 
off in laoO. The north boundary line is somewhat 
below the parallel of 36= 30' north latitude, and 
is veiy irregular, over half the distance being 
natural water-courses. Its eastern boiindaiy is the 
Mississippi River, giving the county a water, front 
of over forty-flve statute mUes. The south boun- 
dary line being the line between the States of, 
Missouri and Arkansas, is on tlie parallel of 36^ 
north latitude, and extends west from the Missis- 
sippi River, thirteen and one -half miles, to a point 
two and one -half miles west of range line No. 10 
east. The western boundai-y conforms to the sub- 
division line, rimuing north, to within one and one- 
fourth miles of the northern boundary line of town- 
ship 20, north range 10 east. The county has a 
population of 3,200. The county of New Madrid lies 
north of Pemiscot and Dunklin on the west. 

THE AREA 

of the county in square miles is 478, ecxual to 306,345 
acres. Of this number of acres, there are 4,498 of 



United States lands reserved by the Government for 
homesteads to actu^.l settlers, which can be had by 
heads of families by paying land office fees, and 
residing on tlie land entered, five years. 41,772 acres 
belong to the county and can be entered at the 
county land office, at one dollar and twenty-five 
cents per acre. 

6,110 acres are unsold school lands, belonging to 
the townships in which they lie. 15,.515 acres are in 
lakes and Little River overflows. 238,447 acres have 
been sold, and are now owned by diffei-ent indi- 
viduals, by the United States and by the county, 
and on which taxes are levied. 

SLANDERS REFUTED. 
Pemiscot County has been published to the world 
by those who know but little of its geography and 
topography, as an uiu-eclaimable swamp county, 
with but now and then a ridge of land rising out of 
the waters, miasmatic pens, and disease -bi-eeding 
morasses, like oases from a Sahara. No greater 
mistake was ever made by man in the description of 
any county, nor has greater injustice ever been 
done any portion of the State than has been done 
the southeastern portion of Missouri by its defamers. 
There is as little waste land as can be found in any 
county of the State. There are not 5,000 acres in the 



212 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



county that cannot be reclaimed. All that is needed 
to make the lowest lands the best and richest in the 
world, is a judicious system of drainage, such as 
reclaimed millions of acres in the old world, and 
not only converted them into happy homes for 
thousands of families, but rendered them a source 
of revenue to the government. No dykes are needed 
around the lakes as a barrier against the floods of 
one great river, as in the case of the great Harlem 
Lake, reclaimed from the inflowing waves of the 
sea; nor is powerful machinery needed to pump 
out, sipe and rain water. The natural slope of the 
country, a fall of six inches per mile, from east to 
west, and seven inches from north to south, is 
sufBcient to drain the water from the deepest lake 
in the county, and i-ender it susceptible of being 
converted into a fltting and fertile field, where, the 
green corn can wave its broad leaves and grain rear 
its golden head in the gentle breezes of heaven. 
Here, too, the many-hued cotton bloom can smile to 
the southern sun, from which it derives its beauty 
and its wealth. 

Nature works great changes in the physical con- 
formation of countries. It is a skillful engineer. In 
former years the great river, at certain jjeriods, 
poured its mighty floods over Southeast Missouri, 
and over Pemiscot County particularly, sometimes 
sweeping from the face of the earth the habitation 
of the hardy pioneer, and wiping out in an hour his 
little accumulation of property. The richness of 
the soil is due to these former overflows. 

SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL. 

Civil law is enforced and moral law respected as 
much in Pemiscot County as in any other. Peace 
ofticers are not menaced by mobs, and justice is 
meted out and administered by the proper powers, 
without let or hindrance. The county has a good 
court house, where Justice sits without fear of 
molestation; church houses, Avhere the gosisel is 
preached by all denominations of Christians, with- 
out fear of interruption; school houses, where is 
employed the best talent to be had to teach children 
all bran<'hes taught in English schools. 

The School Fund is securely guarded, and not al- 
lowed to be stolen or squandered by sharpers, or 
otherwise perverted from its proper channels. The 
county has nineteen school districts organized, and 
in those districts where the interest on the capital 
fund is not sufficient to keep up a four, a six, and 
sometimes eight months' school during the year, a 
tax for that purpose is voted by the tax-payers, 
levied and collected. A newspaper is published at 
the county seat — an ardent advocate of public 
schools, free religion and free speech. It has an 
influeni^e upon the morals of the community, which 
is salutary. 

AGRICULTURE. 

In regard to the agricultural character of the 
county, it may be said that it is well adapted to the 
raising of corn, cotton, tobacco, Irish and sweet po- 
tatoes, the small grains, and a great variety of fruits. 
Experiments with grasses show that blue grass 
grows as well as upon its "natural heath," Ken- 
tucky. Hay, from timothy, clover and red-top is 
grown, as fine as ever grew in the northern, hay- 
growing States. 

The orchardist has found that apples, peaches 



and pears grow as well in Pemiscot County as in 
the famous fruit-raising counties of New York and 
Ohio, or any other State; but as a general thing," 
trees do better when taken from nurseries of this 
latitude and south, than when imported from North- 
ern nurseries. Grapes, quinces, plums, cheiTies, 
gooseberries, currants, strawberries, etc., grow, and 
yield as well, and are of a flavor equal to the same 
kinds raised in other States or in the northern parts 
of this State. 

LIVE STOCK. 

Farmers who have heretofore been lucky enough 
to have lauds above the water, have made money 
raising live stock. The winters are short, and stock 
in the country require but little feed; and cattle 
and horses which take to the cane-brakes during 
the winter come out in good condition in the 
spring. 

The woods abound with the finest kind of fall 
grasses, upon which cattle fatten, and are often put 
upon the market without being fed an ear of corn, 
or any kind of fodder. The oak and hickory mast 
is often sufficient to fatten hogs for market. 

SOILS. 

The soil is, what is termed in the parlance of the 
country, "made land;" a rich alluvium, deposited 
ages since the glacial age ; itiade by the changes and 
shiftings of the great river that passes the eastern, 
shores. The footprints of the waters are upon the 
country. The evidence is convincing that a broad 
river, or gulf, once marked the bluffs, now known as 
Crowley's Kidge, carrying within itself the slime, 
mud and sands from the mountains, the work of 
abrasion and erosion in the far-off ages of the past, 
upon a gigantic scale; while upon its broad surface 
floated the wrecks and debris of primeval forests, 
washed from the shores above, to lodge in tke waters 
below, and form a nucleus around which sands and 
decaying vegetaticm could lodge until islands were 
formed in the bosom of this great desolate sea. 
Delve wlierever one may in this " made land," and 
hundreds of feet below the surface are found the 
giant trees of the old forest which played an impor- 
tant part in filling up, and holding iu place the vast 
deposits which have made the richest portion of the 
habitalile globe. In the course of time, a well de- 
' lined channel was marked out through the land that 
rose fi'oni the great gnU, which has surged backward 
and forward, from hill to hill, for ages upon ages, 
forming new rivers, and lillin.g up old ones, but ever 
16aving its mark upon the laud, through which it 
has so ruthlessly cut. 

KING COTTON. 

V No mines of rich metals have been discovered iu 
Pemiscot county; and it is not reasonable to sup- 
pose that a country built up by alluvial deposits, 
can ever boast of rich leads of valuable ores. If 
the county cannot claim that it has immense depos- 
its of useful metals, it can boast of a mine of wealth, 
richer than the diamond field* of Africa, or Brazil, 
more valuable than the silver of Nevada, or the gold- 
bearing quality of the Siei'as. Pemiscot is in the 
northern portion of the great cotton belt of America. 
It is not in the extreme north, where cotton will 
barely grow, stunted and inferior, but grows equal 
to cotton raised iu Mississippi or Arkansas. Pem- 
iscot, and Dunklin Counties always enter the contest 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



213 



for the premium bales at the State fairs — generally 
dividing the honors between them. From a rougli 
estimate, the number of livc-hundred-pound bales, 
shipped from Pemiscot county, being the product 
of 1879, may be approximated. Within the county 
tliere are nine cotton gins, seven of which are driven 
by steam; tlie ginning runs from two hundred and 
Jifty to one thousand bales each, making a total of 
four thousand eight hundred bales, as the product 
of tlie county for 1879, and is within the number. A 
bale per acre is a moderate yield. If a cotton -grower 
does not raise his bale per acre, he thinks he is not 
doing much. AVith good husbandry, and a good 
season, a bale and a half can be easily raised. 

CORN 

may be regarded as a staple of the county. Great 
quantities of corn are sent to market, while thou- 
sands of bushels are fed to hogs and cattle, the 
farmer Ijelieving that he can realize a greater profit 
for his crop in beef and pork than in the gunny bag. 
Forty-live to fifty bushels of corn per acre is con- 
sidered as an average yield. One farmer in Cypress 
Bend, about the year 1872, from 100 acres, harvested 
10,000 bushels of corn. The yield of 1879 was im- 
mense. 

TIMBER SUPPLY. 

Of forests, tliere is a heavy growth. But little of 
the dwarf species exist in the county. With the use- 
ful timber maybe classed the cyin-ess, which attains 
a gigantic growth. Millions of feet of this valuable 
timber have been floated in logs, and shipiied in 
sawed lumljer, from the county, and millions of feet 
still remain and are available — a great deal of it 
not over six or eight miles from the i-iver. Large 
brakes of this timber are in the western and south- 
western parts of the county. Some fine brakes, in 
the western jjart of the county, are accessible from 
Dunklin County. 

Oak timber, as fine as ever grew in any countr'y, 
in great quantities, can be found all over the county. 
There are several kinds of oaks — the black, red, 
burr, or over-cup, and willow oak. No white oak 
grows in the county. 

White ash is plentiful, and grows to a large size. 
Great quantities of this timber are sawed and 
shipped from the county to St. Louis and Cincinnati. 
Some black walnut gi'ows in the county, although 
the greater part has been cut and shipped to market. 
Considerable can yet be found in these districts, 
not near a water-course, where timber could be 
floated to the river. 

Cotton wood grows in great abundance, in every 
part of tlie county. It is of very thrifty, rapid 
growtli, makes a passable steamboat wood when 
seasoned, and is made into rails for fencing pur- 
poses. Three -fourths of the fences of the county 
are cotton-wood. Of late years, it lias been sawed 
into lumber, and considerable quantities shipped to 
Cincinnati. 

The persimmon tree grows here to a large size. 
On some ridges between the arms of Lake Pemiscot, 
some persimmon trees attain a height of eighty feet, 
free of limbs, and thirty inches in diameter. .The 
value of this wood is not fully known, nor appreci- 
ated by the lumbermen. It is the northern ebony, 



and when seasoned is as hai-d and will take as fine 
a polish as the ebony or mahogany of the tropics. 
Sassafras grows to a prodigious size, large enough 
for pirogues. 

Besides tlie timbers mentioned, are the catalpa, 
elm, sycamore, black and sweet gum, black and 
honey locust, soft maple, hickory, hackberry, mul- 
berry, pecan, and numerous others. 

Of the small growths, are found the dog-wood, 
ironwood, swamp ring, elbow brush, spicewood, 
prickly ash, etc. 

HEALTHFULNESS. 
This county, with the other southeastern counties, 
has been heralded about as extremely sickly. 
There is a great difference in the atmosphere 
of places — great altitude above the sea level, and in 
these counties of lesser altitude; but in both places 
the laws of health have to be ^observed in order to 
prolong life. The seeds of death, or change, are 
implanted in everything that has life, and when 
applied to the human race, natural observation, 
if nothing else, teaches the lesson that the man 
who is the most careful in regard to his food, rai- 
ment, and protection from the elements, is the man 
that is rewarded by the greatest number of days 
upon earth. People who live by hunting, trapping, 
fishing, with nothing but a tent, or a shanty, cabin, 
or hovel, undaubed and unchinked, as a shelter 
from storm and sunshine, are the people who perish, 
first, whether they cast their lots on mountain side- 
or valley bottom. There are men, now residents of 
these southeastern counties of the State, born and 
raised there, whose hairs are frosted by the snows 
of ever eighty winters, hale and hearty yet. Good, 
comfortable habitations are a greater panacea for 
malaria and miasma of the swamp, than all the dis- 
ciples of iEsculapius, with all the pills they ever 
rolled, and all the syrups and nostrums they ever 
compounded. 

LAND PRICES, ETC. 
What Pemiscot County wants is, colonies of im- 
migrants who are not afraid to labor, and who will 
level her forests, drain her low places, and convert 
them into blooming fields of cotton, and waving 
corn, and green grass. Thfere are hundreds of 
thousands of acres available, and only awaiting the 
hand of the sturdy, honest laborer, to convert them 
into rich fields of golden grain and magnificent 
gardens. These lands are within the reach of all 
who want homes. Where the Government owns it, 
it can be had by paying the fees, and residing upon 
it for five years— a 160- acre tract costing, from first 
to last, about forty-five dollars, twenty-five of which, 
is paid down when the entry is made, and the 
balance after the exiiiration of five years' occupancy 
of the homestead. Where the county owns the laud, 
it is sold at one dollar and twenty-five cents per 
acre, and entered either with money or levy scrip. 
AVhere the land is owned by individuals, the prices 
range from one dollar to twenty-five dollars per 
acre, according to location. Any amount of good 
land, without a stick of timber amiss, can be bought 
at one dollar and fifty cents and two dollars per 
acre, and some even lower. Lands on or near the 
Mississippi River, improved, with good buildings, 
can be had for fifteen and twenty dollars per acre. 



214 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



PERRY COUNTY. 



Perry County lies in the southeastern portion of 
the great State of Missouri, and is bounded nortli 
and east by the Mississippi River, fronting on this 
great higliway of commerce for more than forty 
miles; south, it is bounded by the counties of Cape 
Girardeau and Bollinger; west by Madison, and 
northwest by the counties of St. Francois and Ste. 
Genevieve. 

THE SOIL. 

The soil on the uplands of Perry County is a 
sandy loam, intermixed with clay, and is very pro- 
ductive, particularly of small grain; that of the 
bottoms, or low lands, along the Mississippi River, 
and some of the creeks, is a black loam, as fertile 
and productive as any land in the world. 

CROPS AND PRODUCTIONS. 

The uplands are more adapted to the raising of 
•mall grain, such as wheat, barley, rye, corn and 
oats, and are also well adapted to the raising of all 
kinds of fruit— a^)ples, peaches, pears, cherries, 
plums, strawberries, etc. The western portion of 
thii county is particularly suited for fruit and 
grape culture. The low or bottom lands cannot be 
excelled for corn and wheat. Besides tlie above, all 
kinds of cereals, such as are adapted to a temper- 
ate climate, are jirofitably raised here. 

Perry County wheat received the first pre- 
mium at the St. Louis Fair in 1875, and at the Cen- 
tennial Eiliibition in 1876, for quality and quantity. 
There has never been a single failure of crops on 
account of drouth. 

THE LAND AND PRICES OF FARMS. 

rerr^ County cowtaiE? about 29.5,356 acres of land, 
of wliich about one -foui'th is under cultivatiori; tl;e 
other three-fourths ai* yet wild lands, aM^aiting the 
industrious settler to cultivate, or the miner to bring 
forth the treasures hidden beneath tlie surface. 

Tlie wild lands are thickly covered with timber, 
sucii as cotton-wood, linn, ash, poplar, black and 
white oak, post and water oak, over cup and Spanish 
oak, and, in some few localities, arc found large 
pines and luxuriant groves of cedar. 

Tlie prices of land, both improved and unim- 
proved, vary a great deal, according to quality and 
locality, say from $1.25 to $50 per acre; and there 
are over 3,000 acres of Government land and unsold 
school-lands in the county. 

HISTORY. 

This county was settled between tlie years 17!m; and 
1800, by immigrants from Kentucky and Pennsyl- 
vania, the latter locating on the ri<'h bottom land of 
Bois Brule and Brazeau, and the former genei-ally 
settling in the " barrens," undulating table lands, 
formerly merely covered with prairie grass, with 
here and there an antiquated oak, but now covered 
with a heavy growth of timber. 

I'erry was organized November 16th, 1820, about 
eight months after the Slate was admitted into the 



Union. In 1821, Perryville was selected as the 
countv seat, and the town laid out as it now stands. 
Until the year 1824, the population of the county 
consisted chiefly of Shawnee and Delaware Indians, 
they then numbering about 3,000, and, until its or- 
ganization, it was a part of Ste. Genevieve County. 
As the fertility of Perry County became known, 
numbers of Germans and French immigrated, and 
these and their descendants are among the most 
valuable citizens. In truth. Perry had the good 
fortune to be settled by a class of people remark- 
able for their intelligence, honesty and uprightness, 
and their descendants do no discredit to them, for 
there is no portion of the State where religion and 
education are more honored than here, and the 
oflicers of this county have never been called upon 
to execute the sentence of " death" upon any one. 

Its population, in 1830, was 3,349; in 1810, 5,769; in 
1850, 7,215 ; in 1860, 9,128 ; in 1870, 9,877, of whom 9,477 
Avere white, and 400 colored; 5,004 male, and 4,873 
females; 8,334 native (7,331 born in Missouri) and 
1,543 foreign. In 1876, the census taken by the State 
showed the population of Periy Countj' to be 11,189, 
and it now exceeds 12,000. 

During the civil war the citizens of Perry County 
remained loyal to the Government (they are loyal to 
this day) and suffered less than many of her neigh- 
bors. 

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION. 

The feelings of the citizens of the county are strong 
in favor of public schools, and all other institutions 
of learning. Forty-nine out of fifty-two school dis- 
tricts are organized, and a school of not less than 
four months in the year is supported in each district. 
Some have six anfl some eight months. The remain- 
ing three districts are not organized, because there 
are not a sufficient number of children of proper 
school age residing within their borders. In addi 
tion to tlie public schools, there are not less than 
fifteen congregational or private schools. In about 
eight of these both the English and German lan- 
guages are taught. They are supported by private 
means altogether, and are in a flourishing condition. 
Brazeau Higli School is one of the ])ermanent insti- 
tutions of Perry County. 

CHURCHES. 

Churches and cemeteries, supported by well or 
gauized congregations, are found in every part of the 
county. There arc five Roman Catholic churches, 
eight ETangelica! Tjiitlicran (German), five Metlio- 
dist, two Presbyterian and one Baptist. 

INDEBTEDNESS AND TAXATION. 

Perry County is not in debt. She has money in 
her treasury, and all warrants are paid in cash on 
presentation- to the treasurer. Its taxable wealth, 
as aiipears from last assessment, is $2,513,737. Its 
actual wealth, taken from the census of 1870, is $4,- 
650,000, aud,.as evidence of the honesty and integrity 
of the tax-paying citizens of the county, it is tj-ue 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



215 



that by tlie first of March, 18S0, more than ninety- 
eight per cent, of the entire tax of 1879 had been paid 
to the collector. Taxes are low, perhaps, lower 
than in any other county of the State. The rate, of 
tax for 1879 was the following: State, four mills; 
county, three and one-half mills; road, one mill- 
total, eight and one-half mills. School taxes vary 
from one to six and one-half mills. 

PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 

The public buildings of the county consist of a 
large, substantial and commodious court house, 
built of brick, also a jail, built of the same material ; 
it has three steel cells, with a corridor and all other 
modern impi-ovements attached. Both these build- 
ing are located at Perryville, the county seat. It also 
has a county farm of one hundred and seventy-five 
acres, about one and one-half miles south of Perry- 
ville, with the necessary buildings and out-houses 
for the accommodation of insane and poor persons. 
It also has three iron suspension bridges ; one spans 
Cape Cinque, Hommes Creek, connecting the rich 
bottom lands of Bois Brule with tlie uplands of 
Central, Saline and Union townships, and the other 
tn^o span Apple Creek, the line between Perry and 
Cape Girardeau Counties, thus forming two great 
connecting links of the two counties, whereby the 
citizens are enabled to trade and traffic the whole 
year, without any interruption from floods or high 
water. 

MINES AND MINERALS. 

Good indications of deposits of lead and iron are 
found at all four points of tlie compass in the 
county, but they are not worked and developed, for 
■want of capital. Ptich iron deposits are found in the 
southeastern corner, and in the western part of the 
county. Lead is found near the town of Witten- 
berg, t\venty-three miles east of Perryville ; the same 
mineral is found on the county farm and its vicinity, 
at from one to three miles south of the county seat. 
It is found and most extensively mined in the entire 
western and northwestern portion of the county, 
along the different branches of Saline Creek, at 
from sLx to eight miles from Perryville. One mine, 
named alter the beautiful lake, eight miles west of 
Perrywillc, and called "Silver Lake Mines," is the 
most extensively operated. It was opened in 1878; 
a small furnace was erected the same year in the 
small village of Silver Lake, and over $10,000 worth 
of mineral has been raised, smelted and sold since 
that date, and until now this mine has paid its own 
expenses. The products of this mine are hauled by 
wagons to Ste. Mary's, Missouri, a distance of about 
fifteen miles, and from there shipped per river to 
the St. Louis market, where it commands the highest 
market price. The ore raised at this and all other 
mines is obtained from top openings, and is called 
float, found at from six to twenty feet beneath the 
surface. Seams and crevices in the rock indicate 
lower deposits, but, until now, for want of capital, 
no thorough search has been made for it. How- 
ever, these mines will not be abandoned again. 
Capital will undoubtedly find its way there, and a 
bright and better future for all the mines and owners 
of the land is looked lor with certainty. Silica in 
inexhaustible quantities is found in the eastern 
part of the county. 



MILLS AND FACTOKIES. 

This county is also well supplied with grist and 
sawmills. There are four large merchant and nine 
custom mills ; all are supplied with grain from this 
and adjoining counties, and the farmer receives 
within a small fraction of the St. Louis market 
price for his wlieat and corn at home. The custom 
mills supply the inhabitants witli a fine quality of 
flour and corn meal, and are generally run by water- 
power. There are also eiglit saw mUls within its 
border; tlie most notable of these are those located 
in Bois Brule Bottom, Avhicli nranuf acture lumber for 
tlie St. Louis and other markets in large quantities. 
Of other and smaller industries, such as wagon- 
makers, cabinetmakers, and blacksmiths, there are 
plenty; in fact, all branches of mechanics are well 
represented, and skilled men are found in every part 
of the county. 

SPRINGS, RIVERS, AND "WATER-POWER. 

Tlie western portion of Perry County is particu- 
larly blessed with large springs of pure and clear 
water, some of them large enough to run mills. 
One of these springs is situated at and forms 
" Silver Lake," hereinbefore mentioned. It fur- 
nishes the power for the grist mill of same name, 
and, in addition, sufficient water to wasli all 
the mineral smelted at the furnaces located there. 
No rivei-s flow in Perry County, only the great 
" Father of Waters," which flows along the north- 
ern and eastern border; but, Apple Creek, O'Bra- 
zeau, Cape Cinque Homme, and Saline Creeks, 
afford water-power for manufactories, an/J nu- 
merous yet unoccupied sites for such can be 
found along their banks. Four other and smaller 
creeks — the Bois Brule, Omete, Indian, and White 
Water— are additional means of drainage of the 
lands. 

RAJLROAD FACILITIES. 

Perry County has no railroad, although two lines 
— one from Pilot Knob, Iron County, Missouri, to 
Grand Tower, and the other from Iron MountaLn, 
via St. Mary's, to Chester, Illinois— have been sur- 
veyed, but are not constructed as yet. The public 
roads are, except during the winter months, in an 
ordinary good condition, as good as they can be 
made and kept under the system of the present 
lload Law. 

MARKET FACILITIES. 

Tlie market facililies are great, for the farmers 
arc connected, by the great Mississippi, with all the 
world. With cheap freight, and landings accessible 
to all the citizens, they have a decided advantage 
over those counties who have notliing but railroads. 
Moreover, the mills and merchants afford citizens 
ample facilities to turn into money anything they 
may have to sell— from old iron and rags, to the 
finest cattle, hogs, or horses— all of wliich are bought 
at home and shipped to other markets. 

CLIMxlTE AND IIEALTHFULNESS. 

The climate here is mild and healthy. The most 
prevailing diseases in the summer and fall months 
are cliills and lever and bilious fever. Pneumonia 
is sometimes prevalent in winter and spring. 

MATTERS IN GENERAL. 
Grasshopvers. etc., aj-e not known here; at least. 



216 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



the crops have never suffered very much from such 
insects. 

The honey bee is also profitably kept, and some 
of the citizens have realized as much as one hun- 
dred and seventy-five pounds of honey from a 
single hive in one year. 

Near the county seat numerous caves, whose 
natural beauty are beyond description, are found, 
and they furnish the finest subterranean drainage 
in the world. 

On the eastern border of the county, about one 
mile south of the town of Wittenberg, Grand Tower 



Rock stands out in the Mississippi Itiver, al)Out 
three hundred feet from shore, surrounded by 
water, and about seventy-five feet high. It, too, is 
a fine specimen of natural beauty. 

The incorporated towns within the county arc: 
Wittenberg, Altonburg, Longtown, and Perry ville. 
The latter has its fire department, with a good en- 
gine, and other uecessaiy implements for extin- 
guishing fires, and a public school, with three de- 
partments. 

Many more of the advantages of Perrj' County 
might be enumerated. 



PETTIS COUNTY. 



Ferdinand DeSoto, the Spanish explorer, crossing 
the Mississippi River, penetrated to the country 
south of the Mississippi River, and, according to 
some, spent the winter of 1851-2 in or near the 
present county of Pettis; but there were no settle- 
ments made in Central Missouri until 1810, when a 
colony located near Boone's Lick, in Howard 
County; and, in 1818, the first settlement in Pettis 
County was made on Heath's Creek. These early 
settlers thought that the prairie lands were almost 
valueless for farming purposes, and they built 
along the streams, in the timber. 

In fourteen years after the first settlement the 
population had increased to 600, and then the county 
was first formed. In 1840, the population was 
2,030; in 1850, it was 5,1.50; in 1860, it was 9,302; and 
then came war, with its dangers, its conflicts, its 
animosities, and its bloodshed. Many abandoned 
their farms, and land became of little value; but 
the war had scarcely closed when population com- 
menced to pour into the county, and lands were 
soon actively selling at high prices. In 1870, although 
nearly one -half of the preceding decade had been 
distracted by civil strife, the population numbered 
18,706, and it has been steadily increasing since that 
time, and is now probably between 35,000 and 
40,000. 

LOCATION. — WATER. — SOIL. 

Pettia County, situated near the center of the 
Stale, has an area of 446,289 acres, of which about 
100,000 acres are timber lands, and the balance 
prairie. The soil is of five kinds, viz: "Mulatto" 
soil, with red clay subsoil; same soil, with choco- 
late-colored subsoil; black soil, with either red 
clay or chocolate-colored subsoil; and gray-color- 
ed soil, with a variety of subsoil. Each of 
these kinds have special adaptations for the uses of 
the fai-mer. 

The prairie is gently undulating, and the county 
is well watered by lUackwater, Heath, Beaver Dam, 
Brushy, Turkey, Muddy, Klat, Lake, Spriiig Fork, 
Basin Fork, Camp Branch and Elk Fork Creeks, and 
the La Mine River, with their smaller tributai-ics. 
There are also raany springs, and wells of living wa- 
ter may be obtained in nearly all parts of tlie county, 
at twenty to forty feet. All farmers also have 



artificial ponds, which retain water throughout itie 
year. 

The bois d'arc, or osage orange, grows readily, 
and is largely employed for fencing. 

RAILROAD FACILITIES. 

The pioneers of immigration chose a location with 
verj' little reference to railroads, either actual or 
prospective, but those who now come bring their 
capital with them, and want to know what facilities 
they will have for receiving and shipping goods, 
and the cost of doing so, compared with the cost 
from other points. In these matters the county can 
make a good showing. 

The oldest railroad is the Missouri Pacific, 
which forms the direct line between St. Louis and 
Kansas City, Denver and the Pacific Coast, it being 
189 miles to St. Louis, and 96 to Kansas City, with 
no other town one -third as large between these two 
places. 

The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company 
was organized in 1869, being a union of several com- 
panies ; in 1870 it ran its first passenger train to 
Clinton, a distance of forty miles, and in less than 
three years afterward tlie line was completed 
to Dennison, Texas, a distance of 433 miles to the 
south, and to Hannibal, a distance of 142 miles to 
the northeast, making, in connection with otlier 
roads, a continuous route from Chicago to Galves- 
ton. It furnishes the most direct outlet to Chicago, 
and many of the stockmen make their shipineiits 
to that market. By the competition of this road and 
the Missouri Pacific freights are low, and good 
rates can be obtained here for shipping, either to or 
from Sedalia. The general offices and the machine- 
shops of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway are 
in Sedalia, and give employment to a large number 
of clerks and mechanics, and add grcatlv to tlie 
prosperity of the city. 

The St. Louis & Lexington Railroad runs from 
Sedalia to Lexington, on the Missouri Kiver, laying 
triljute to Sedalia some of the richest ])ortions of 
the State. 

The Sedalia, Warsaw & Southern Jtailroad is a 
narrow gauge road running from Sedalia almost 
due south, and the prediction has bi en made, l)y 
one of the best railroad men in the State, tliat in 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



217 



less than ten years tlie road will be extended to 
New Orleans. In Benton County there are rich 
deposits of leau and iron, and this road will furnish 
the only outlet for them; but it will be of more 
benefit by reaching the lumber districts than in any 
other way. Indeed, it is said that the lumber in- 
terests alone are sufficient to make the road a pay- 
ing one. Enormous trees of white and black walnut, 
the different kinds of oak, and other forest trees, 
are found in abundance, and manufacturers needing 
hard wood can find no better place to locate than 
in Sedalia. 

The project of building a road due north from 
Sedalia has frequently been agitated, but it has not 
yet been commenced. It is believed that it will not 
be long until a line Tiill be built to some point on 
the Chicago & Alton Kailroad, thus giving another 
competing road to Chicago. 

The machine shops and round-houses of all the 
above named companies are located in Sedalia, and 
several hundred men are constantly employed in 
them. 

PRODUCTION STATISTICS. 

Wheat and corn are the staple grain productions 
— some farms having as high as one thousand acres 
of eacli. Flax-seed is produced in lai-ge quantities, 
and furnishes the qiiickcst, and one of the most 
Ijrofltable, returns that the farmer can get. Hay, 
both cultivated and prairie, is largely shipped. 
Oats, broom corn, hungarian grass, and sorghum 
are also cultivated. Cattle, hogs, and horses, are 
the chief stock raised ; and some of the Pettis County 
stock-bi-eeders are known tliroughout the western 
country for the excellence and purity of their stock. 

The following table will show the shipments, 
during the year 1879, from Pettis County, of those 
things which were produced in it. Tlie amounts 
are given in car loads : 

"Wheat 300 

Flour 106 

Corn 750 

Oats 190 

Buckwheat 1 

Millet 2 

Broom Corn 39 

Rye 1 

Flax-seed 58 

Hay 100 

Cq,ttle , 500 

Horses and Mules 129 

Hogs 525 

Sheep 74 

Wool 40 

Hides 49 

Earthenware 4 

Cane Mills 6 

Walnut Logs 22 

Various 20 

Total 2,916 

During the first three months of the present year, 
the shipments from stations have been lai-gely in 
excess of those for the whole of the year 1879. 

MINERALS. 
Lead, iron, zinc, and red and yellow ochre, are all 
found in the county, but lead is the only one of 
them that is now being worked. Limestone is found 



close to the city, and is extensively quarried for 
foundations and for lime. Cotton-rock and sand- 
stone are also found. A large deposit of emery of 
superior quality has been worked to some extent. 
Potters' clay is found at various points, and is 
manufactured into pottery at Lamonte and Dresden. 
While the county is.not in the belt of the so-called 
coal-measures, there are many "pockets" and 
" fields " of coal, some of which have large quan- 
tities of coal, the vein being, in places, from twenty 
to thirty feet in thickness. 

NATIVITY OF POPULATION. 

When persons move to a new home they always 
want to know something about who their new 
neighbors will be. The census of 1870 showed that 
at that time, of those in the couaty, 17,156 were born 
in the United States, 1,409 in Europe, and 134 iu 
British America. Of those born in the United 
States, 8,584 were natives of Missouri, 1,798 of Ken- 
tucky, 1,480 of Ohio, 1,048 of Illinois, 997 of Virginia, 
and 459 of Tennessee; and the present population 
will not materially vary from the above ratios. 
Thus, it will be seen that persons, coming either 
from the North or from the South, will here find 
plenty of friends and perhaps old neighbors. 

COUNTY FINANCES. 

Five to twelve years ago a lai-ge amount of money 
had to be raised to meet the ordinary expenses of 
the county and to pay the interest on the railroad 
bonds ; and, in order to procure suflicicnt funds for 
these purposes, a very high per cent, was levied 
upon the full value of property. For this reason 
the total assessed value has not increased with the 
real inci-ease in value. In 1870, the assessed value 
of $4,344,000 represented a real value of about the 
same sum, while the assessment of $4,539,305, for 
1880, represents a value of over $10,000,000. The rate 
of taxation, has steadily decreased, and, in 1879, 
for State and county purposes, was only $1.15 per 
$100. 

The assessment of ten years ago was at about 
full values; now, on an assessment of $1,100, the 
property is worth over $2,500. The reduced rate of 
tax not only pays the current expenses, but reduces 
the debt. A few years ago the railroad bonded debt 
of the county was $589,000, while it is now reduced 
to $270,000. 

COUNTY TOWNS. 

Sedalia, the county seat, sometimes known as the 
" Queen City of the Prairies," is admitted to be one of 
the most enterprising places in the West, and it has 
labored without ceasing until it has obtained a posi- 
tion and influence from which it cannot now be dis- 
possessed by any other place. From the jear 1866, its 
growth has been constant and without any backset 
such as other cities of its size have all had. It is the 
railroad center of the State, and the relation it now 
holds to the railroads and the State will, beyond a 
reasonable doubt, make it a city of respectable size 
and a manufacturing and jobbing center. Already 
the twenty-five commercial travelers kept on the 
road by its wholesale houses, find their way to all 
points in the country around, and sell in close com- 
petition with those from larger cities. Its manufac- 
turing establishments are yet comparatively small. 
They consist of a woolen mUl, with a capacity of 



218 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



one hundred and fifty yards per day ; a glue factory ; 
a brewery of the capacity of three hundred kegs 
daily, and which is extensively engaged in sliipping 
bottled beer to Texas; a stair manufactorj' and 
turning establishment; an agricultural implement 
manufactory which employs fifteen to twenty men 
making plows, harrows, etc.; four flouring mills, 
two carriage and three wagon shops, a patent med- 
icine manufactory, a baking powder manufactory, 
and the Smitli Jfanufacturing Company, whicli does 
a general foundry business, as well as manufactur- 
ing a large number of cane mills, sulky plows and 
Bonanza fanning mills, employing about thirty men. 
The Holly system of water-works, erected at a cost 
of $130,000, gives all needed supplies of water for 
the railroad shops, manufacturing establishments, 
and for private use. 

Sedalia is well supplied with banks and banking 
associations, so that money can be had at reasonable 
rates. The city bonds bear only five per cent, inter- 
est, and taxes are not high. The population has 
increased from 3,000, in 1S66, to 15,000, at present. 
During the last session of the Legislature an act 
was introduced providing for submitting to the 
people the question of removing the State capital 
from Jefferson City to SedaliSa, and a majority voted 
in favor of the proposition, bht the majority was not 
such as is requisite to submit amendments to the 
Constitution. It is possible another effort will be 
made to effect this change. 

On the line of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Rail- 
way are Greenridge and lieaman; on the Pacific 
Railroad, Lamonte, Dresden and Smithton; on the 
St. Louis & Lexington Railroad, Houstonia and 
Hughesville ; and Longwood, Sigel and Ionia are 
away from any railroad. Some of these towns do a 
large local and shipping business. 

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES. 

From the above it will be seen that various manu- 
f actui-ing establishments will, ere long, be located 
here. 

The ease of reaching markets in every direction, 
the demand in the tributary country and other 
advantages, offer solid inducements to capital. The 
people are progressive, and inclined to assist in all 
matters of public benefit and enterprise. 

GENERAL SUMMARY OF ADVANTAGES. 

To the farmer who may decide on locating at any 
point in the West, the following summary of the ad- 
vantages of the county is presented: 

1. The country around, not only in the county, 
but in other coiinties ai'ound it, is naturally rich and 
productive, and has proven its fertility by being 
brought to a high state of cultivation. 

2. Tliere is abundance of timber suitable for fuel, 
fencing and building jiurposes. jUong all the 



streams in the county there are belts of timber of 
various kinds, while many places, which forty yeai'S 
ago were open prairie, are now covered with a fine 
growth of black walnut. 

3. The county is partially underlaid with coal, and 
various banks have been opened, giving tlie farmer 
the choice of coal instead of wood for fuel. 

4. All grains, vegetables and fruits that can be 
raised in any part of the Northern States can be 
raised here equally as well ; while the same is true 
of nearly everything that the South produces. The 
climate is mild ; the winters short and seldom 
severe, and then only for a short time ; but little 
snow falls, and the farmer can work the most of the 
winter, while the country is high, rolling prairie, 
and consequently healthy beyond the average. 
Sedalia is on the highest point on the Missouri, 
Kansas & Texas Railway, between Hannibal, Mis- 
souri, and Fort Scott, Kansas, a distance of 253 
miles, 

5. There is now a good class of farmers here, both, 
from the North and from the South ; the best of farm 
machinery is in use, and the best blooded stock of 
the country can be obtained from fine stock farms. 

6. The county town is one of the most enterprising 
in the State, with railroad communication in every 
direction, and an almost certainty of soon being the 
capital of the State. Everything that will increase 
the taxable property of the town will decrease the 
tax on farm lands. 

7. The public school system is in full operation 
here, and every district has a school-house and 
school teacher. 

8. Lands are as cheap here as in any parts of 
Kansas and Texas, while those States have not the 
advantages above given, except that of a fertile 
soil. 

9. Although wheat and corn in all parts of the 
West command smaller jDriccs thau in the East, yet 
the market facilities which Sedalia possesses enable 
Die farmer to sell produce at much better rates than 
he could do in most other places, while the cheap- 
ness of lands and the ease of cultivation outweigh 
the higher prices of the East. 

To these reasons might be added many others 
"equally true; and, if true, then any one reading 
them, will say: How is it that so many go through 
here to Kansas and Texas? The answer is simply 
that those States are advertised by various railroad 
companies, and bj^ State "immigration agents, and 
all the advantages they can claim are presented in 
multiplied thousands of advertising circulars, and 
these, of course, never make any comparison Avith 
better places. In 1877, the Missouri, Kansas and 
Texas Railroad Company distributed 767,000 pieces 
of advertising matter, descriptive of Kansas and 
Texas, and the other railroad companies i-unning 
tlirough Kansas have sent out similar numbers. 



Hand-Book or Missouei. 



219 



PHELPS COUNTY. 



Phelps County is situated in the southeast central 
part of the State, and is drained by the Gasconade 
and Meramec Rivers, and their tributaries. The 
county was formed from Crawford County, and was 
organized November 13, 1857. 

TOPOGRAPHY. 

The elevation of the county is from 700 to 900 
feet above the Mississippi River, at St. Louis. 
The surface is gently rolling in the interior, but, 
along the larger water courses, is broken and 
rocky. The scenery in some places is magnilicent. 
There are caves in manj- jjlaces, and some bluffs, 
almost perpendicular, and from two to three hun- 
dred feet high, such as are seen in all limestone 
countries. 

The river and creek bottom lands vary from a 
hundred yards to a mile and more in width; are 
boiinded by high ridges, on tlie tops of which are 
large areas of table land, nearly level or gently un- 
dulating. Between these ridges the surface of the 
country is diversiJied by broad, smooth, but ii-re- 
gular swells, between which are fertile valleys, 
from a few yards to a mile wide, and frequently 
several miles in length, with fall enough for good 
drainage. 

THE SOILS AND PRODUCTIONS. 

The river and creek bottoms are very fertile and 
productive, and will compare favorably with any 
river or creek bottoms in the Union. The valley 
lands are next in fertility. The soil of these valleys 
is more or less mixed with sand; is kind and free, 
and well adapted for the raising of all crops pro- 
duced in this climate. The uplands, on the broad 
ridges and hillsides are clay subsoil underlaid 
with limestone, gravel and mineral. The soil is 
sufficiently fertile for all larm prodiicts, but espe- 
cially adapted to small grains, fruit, and tame 
grasses. It is believed by many of the best farmers 
that the iiplands will be the most valuable lands of 
this county, at no distant day. With the very indif- 
ferent culture they now receive, they yield fair re- 
turns, in crops of a greater variety than can be 
raised on bottom or valley lands. With deep cul- 
ture, those lands stand both drouth and wet 
remarkably well; and, as clover groM's almost 
spontaneously, any practical farmer can see how 
easy and cheap this land can be enriched to any 
desired degree. No land in the world shows a 
better and more lasting effect, if manured, than 
this. The rocky ridges will not be utilized for farm- 
ing in the near future ; but they are mostly covered 
with timber and grass, furnishing good pastures for 
all kinds of stock, and containing rich minerals 
and valuable rocks. 

The prairies are small, compared with those of 
Kortli Missouri and other prairie countries. The 
soil of the prairies is about the same as that of the 
uplands. 

THE TIMBER SUPPLY. 

There is an abundance of timber for all purposes ; 
and, on tlie prairiee and praii-ie hollows, where not 



a spring was seen Jt few years ago, in many locali- 
ties, there is now a luxuriant growth of fine, young 
timber. 

MINERALS. 

The principal mineral, so far developed, is iron, 
of which there is an abundance. The ."ihipnient of 
iron ore is quite an item, and a large number of 
teams lind daily employment in hauling the ore to 
the railroad. There are strong indications of zinc, 
copper, and lead— of the last, to judge from the indi- 
cations, there are large quantities ; but, although it 
is dug in many localities for local use, it is not yet 
developed. More capital and labor is needed to de- 
velop the mining resources of the county. Build- 
ing rock, of the finest quality, can be found in all 
parts of the county. Lime can be readily burnt 
fi-om the rock. 

WATER SUPPLY. 

This county is supplied with an abundance of the 
very best water. The rivers, creeks and branches 
are as clear as crystal. A muddy stream is un- 
known in this county. Fine si^rings can be found 
in almost every par'v, of the county, and water 
can be reached in wells at from fifteen to thirty 
feet. 

PRODUCTIONS, EXPORTS, FRUIT AND 
STOCK. 

Corn, wheat, oats, hay, rye, potatoes, fruit, and 
vegetables of this latithde, are raised and do well; 
also, wheat, flour, corn, oats, horses, mules, cattle, 
slieep, hogs, poultry, lard, tallow, hides, eggs, and 
some tobacco and dried fruit. Tobacco does well, 
hnt is not cultivated extensively as yet. 

Fruit of all kinds does well, and will, in time, form 
quite an item. The county is new, and this branch 
of industry has been sadly neglected, but now every 
farmer is planting more or less trees. 

The stock of the county is being improveij. The 
long-nosed native hog is a thing of the past— it has 
given place to improved breeds. Cattle, sheep, 
horses, and mules, are of a much better grade than 
a few years ago. The climate is veiy favorable for 
stock-raising. The summers are long and the win- 
ters short; extremes of heat in summer, and of 
cold in winter, are only of a few days' duration, 
sometimes lasting only a few nours. 

ACREAGE AND PRICE OF LAND. 

There are 429,163 acres of land— about 50,000 acres 
imxDroved ; about 50,000 acres are Government land, 
and 55,000 railroad land, which can be bought at 
from one dollar and twenty-five cents to five dol- 
lars per acre. Farms with more or less improve- 
ment can be bought of those who have too much 
land, or those who Avish to go f iirtlier toward the 
frontier, at from five to fifteen dollars per acre. 

POPULATION STATISTICS. 
In 1870, this county had a population of 10,506; the 
estimated inci-ease is from twenty to twenty-five 
per cent. The people are law-abiding and sociable. 



220 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



A hearty Aveloonie is extended to all bona fide 
eetUers, regardless of party or religious opinion. 

EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES. 

There are sixty-three organized school districts, 
and also a graded and high school, and the School of 
Mines, at Eolla. The School of Mines is a branch of 
the State University. This school, although in its 
infancy, having been organized in 1871, has furnished 
a list of graduates who arc an honor to the State 
and a benefit to the communities in which they 
labor. This schoo!, besides mining and civil engi- 
neering and the practical sciences, teaches the 
languages and higher branches. The school funds 
of the county for last year were ?17,363.62. There 
are sixty-nine teachers employed during the year. 
The grade of schools is fair, and in some localities 
Tery superior. 

RELIGIOUS. 

All the leading denominations are represented in 
the county. All have churches in the towns and 
the county at large. 

MANUFACTURING. 

This branch of industry is as yet in its infancy. 
There is a fine field for capital, energy and enter- 
prise. The raw material is found in abundance- 



iron ore, timber and raw hides and the bark and 
sumac for tanning them with. The water-power is 
unsurpassed, some single springs even furnishing 
power enough for the largest mills and factories, 
and with all these advantages all manufactured 
articles are imported, with the exception of some 
wagons and some minor farm implements. 

TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

Rolla, the county seat, 114 miles from St. Louis, 
via St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, has a popu- 
lation of about 2,000, and is well supplied with 
hotels and business houses. 

A large amount Of the surplus products of many 
counties between Phelps and the Arkansas State 
line, are shipped from here to the St. Louis market. 

St. James is situated twelve miles east of Rolla, 
on the same railroad. It is smaller than Rolla, and 
has a fine flouring mill and tlie necessary shops and 
stores to make it a lively and thrifty town. 

Arlington is situated on the railroad where the 
latter crosses the Gasconade. 

Edgar's Prairie is twenty miles south of Rolla, 
and contains three stores. 

INDUCEMENTS TO IMMIGRATION. 

Cheap land, good soil, delightful climate, fine 
water, and the health of the county is unsurpassed. 



PTKE COUNTY. 



Pike County has a fortunate and commanding lo- 
cation. It has easy command of the Mississippi 
Valley, by the grandest water-way of the Union. 
The St. Louis, Keokuk and Northern Railway 
gives it railway connections with Hannibal, Keokuk 
and St. Louis. The Quincy branch of the Chicago, 
Burlington and Quincy road gives an outlet north 
and east; the Chicago and Alton road gives a direct 
Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City connection, and 
the St. Louis, Hannibal and Keokuk road connects 
with Hannibal. It has an area of 424,266 acres, has 
an easterly river front of forty miles, and is bounded 
on the north by Ralls County ; on the west by Ralls 
and Audrain Counties, and on the south by Lincoln 
and Montgomery Counties. The face of the county 
is singularly attractive. Along the river are scores 
of grand, wooded bluffs, forming a chain of bold, 
well-defined peaks, fi-om one hundred to two hun- 
dred and fifty feet elevation. Alternating with these 
are charming ravines and valleys, reaching inland 
from the river through tlie tinil)er bells, to wliere 
they arc lost in the high, rolling prairie, and plain 
districts. 

THE TIMBER AND WATER SUPPLY 

are equal to all present and prospective needs. A 
full third of the county was originally wooded, and 
at least twenty per cent, is covered with groves and 
belts of oak, elm, ash, liickory, hackberry, maple, 
sycamore, pecan, cotton-wood, walnut and linden. 



Fencing and building materials are abundant, the 
bottoms and slopes abound in walnut and oak, for 
commercial uses, and the markets are well supplied 
with wood, at two and three dollars per cord. Forty 
miles of Mississippi River front, the Salt and Reno 
Rivers, Buffalo, Calumet, Ramsay, Gaines, Noix and 
a score of lesser streams, with numerous springs, 
living wells, artificial ponds and cisterns, give every 
portion of the county a full supply of pure water. 

BUILDING STONE AND COAL 

are in full supply. The entire county is underlaid 
with limestone, and there are scores of outcrop- 
pings where fine building stone, of any desired 
thickness, is easily and cheaply obtained. Free- 
stone is also in good supply. Coal, of good quality, 
and in good veins, underlies a large district in the 
southwest i)ortion of the county. 

SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 

The soil of this county is very rich and productive, 
and for fruits, grains, vegetables and grasses, will 
rank with any in the West. The surface soils of the 
timber districts are rich and warm, being quick, red- 
dish, yellow and dark loams, from six to fifteen inches 
deep, and are everywhere underlaid with the loess 
deposit— a porous and flexil)le subsoil, mostly com- 
posed of silicious matter combined with lime and 
magnesia carbonate, the phosphates, alumina, etc. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



221 



It is a very rich subsoil, and produces tiie finest 
fruits, grasses and Avheat known to agriculture. 
The praii-ie soil is dark, rich alluvial, eight to 
twenty inches deej), produces luxuriant crops of 
corn, grass and vegetables, and is underlaid with 
the same alien loess deposit. This remarkaljle soil 
slacks like quick-lime, on exposure to frost and air, 
and will endure greater excesses of drouth and 
moisture than any soil in the world. 

All the grains flourish here. White winter wheat, 
of superb quality, is a staple crop, and gives a yield 
of fourteen to forty bushels per acre, the yield de- 
pending upon location, season and culture. The 
elm uplands, and hickory and oak soils, are espe- 
cially fine for wheat-growing. Corn is the king of 
grains here, as everywhere in Missouri — is largely 
grown, and yields from thirty-five to ninety bushels 
per acre. Buckwheat, barley, rye, oats and corn do 
finely. 

All the vegetables, grasses and plants, known to 
the middle and northern latitudes, have a luxuriant 
and perfect growth in this remarkable soil. Irish 
and sweet potatoes, beans, peas, tobacco and hemp, 
flax, sorghum, millet, hungarian, the garden vege- 
tables, vines, plants and blooms, and all valuable 
herbage produced between Hudson's Bay and the 
cotton fields, reach perfection in this rich, deep, 
flexible soil. It is the paradise of grasses. The 
blue grass ranges are equal to the finest in Ken- 
tucky or Illinois. Blue grass is every^vhere anin- 
idigenous herbage. Indeed, it makes perennial 
pasturage, save in the severest winter seasons, and 
an acre of it is equal in value to an acre of corn. It 
leaves no waste land in Pike County, for it is found 
•everywhere, from the water-line to the crown of 
the highest blulf. The clover and timothy meadows, 
too, are splendid, and will rank with the finest in 
the land. The native jirairie grasses, which num- 
ber upwards of one hundred varieties, are remark- 
able for their flesh-yielding qualities from April to 
September, but they are gradually yielding to the 
blue grass. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

There is no finer stock country. It could not be 
otherwise with its almost perennial grazing, its 
superb meadows, mild climate, fine, natural, timber 
shelter, big crops of clieaply-grown corn, and the 
ample and admirable facilities for cheap trans- 
portation, which give the feeders and grazers com- 
mand of the Chicago and St. I>ouis stock markets, 
in six to twenty hours. By the Assessor's returns, 
there are 8,802 horses, 2,998 mules, 17,367 cattle, 19,- 
140 sheep, and 38,730 swine in the county. It is safe 
to add twenty per cent, to these figures, to cover the 
large amount of stock not reported to the assessors. 
Without accurate data, as to the amount of stock 
fed in this county, is is safe to estimate the yearly 
export of fat cattle, sheep, swine, horses and mules, 
at 1,500 car loads, worth at least |1,250,000. There 
are scores of feeders Miiose yearly surplus runs 
from five to twelve car loads. Hundi-eds of farmers 
feed from two to five car loads. The cattle and pigs 
grown and fed here are high grades, and the visitor 
will find, on most of the farms, the finest types of 
the well-bred short-horn and model Berkshires and 
Poland Chinas. Pike County farmers have been 
breeding from the best Kentuck}' and Illinois stock 
lor'a third of a centuiy, and all classes of feeding 



animals will rank with those of the famous breeding 
and feeding districts of the older Eastern States. 
Horses and mules are largely raised for export, and 
the business is very remunerative. 

Scores of the most successful sheep-growers of 
Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan have found their 
way into this region, whose dry, rolling woodlands, 
blue grass and M'hite clover ranges, cheap lands, 
natural shelter and healthy climate, ofi'er rare in- 
ducements to this most profitable and entertaining 
industry. Two hundred natural sheep ranches 
could be selected in this county, where pasturage 
is good for three hundred days of the year, at five 
dollars to eight dollars per acre, and upon which 
tlie entire investment in lands, stock, etc., would 
pay twenty-five to thirty-five per cent, per anaum, 
and the whole stock-growing business of the county 
is, to-day, paying handsomer net returns, by twenty 
per cent., than any purely grain-growing region in 
America. 

FRUIT CULTURE. 

The county exports 280,000 barrels of staple apples 
annually, and the industry is only in its infancy. 
The eastern half of the county is already rich in 
superb apple orchards of five, ten, twenty and forty 
acres extent. Up the beautiful Noix Valley, from 
Louisiana, down about Clarksville and Kissinger, 
and over in the Frankfort district, are orchards 
which a connoisseur in fruit-growing might covet. 
Peaches, pears, cherries, and garden fruits do finely 
This region may appropriately be called the 
land of the vine. The grape is in its glory all along 
these southerly and eastei'ly slopes. The M'hole 
i-iver bluff and hill district of the county, forty miles 
in length and five miles inland, might be transformed 
from its lialf wild condition into terraced vine^'ards. 
The flavor of the grape grown here is equal to the 
rarest in the country, and the vine never fails of 
a bountiful crop. By superficial methods, they 
grow grapes here now for two and three cents per 
pound. 

DAIRYING. 

A few energetic farmers devote their capital and 
energy to dairying, and, as all the conditions are 
found here, it is not strange that all who engage in 
this business make money. 

THE CLIMATE 

is scarcely less than a benediction ; not that it is all 
fair weather and no drawbacks, for now and then a 
hard storm occurs here, and sometimes the rigors 
of stern winter are felt ; but the real, genuine win- 
ter of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota is un- 
known to this medium latitude. The climate is 
mild and equable, and almost identical with that of 
Southern Ohio, Maryland and Northern Kentucky. ' 
It is essentially a healthy country. On the west is 
the high, rolling prairie, with its inspiring summer 
bi-eeze. In the eastern portions of the county the 
bluffs and rolling woodlands, with intervening val- 
leys and ravines, give pei-fect drainage. No stag- 
nant, sluggish, waters, to breed malaria, exist, 
and animal health is conserved by every local con- 
dition. 

THE PEOPLE. 

Of the 33,000 people now here, seventy-five per 
cent, are from Kentucky, Viiginia, and the neiglil>oi». 



222 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



ing Southern States, and their descendants. They 
are generally people of excellent character and 
habits, intelligent, orderly and law-abiding; pro- 
verbial for their hospitality and sense of honor. 
They have as high appreciation for sterling charac- 
ter as any people, and, with few exceptions, express 
a wish for Northern immigration, capital, and enter- 
prise, to aid in tliB development of the county. The 
sectional prejudices and animosities of the war, that 
largely obtained here a dozen years ago, are fast 
dying out. Local and provincial habits and con- 
ceits are yielding to the cosmopolitan tendency of 
railways, commerce and mixed society, and the new- 
comer is cordially welcomed by a tolerant and lib- 
eral, public spirit. 

* FREK SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. 

Pike county has one hundred and thirty-eight 
free public schools; one hundred and thirty-eight 
public school buildings, built at a cost of more than 
$100,000; a permanent school fund of $34,250, and an 
enrollment of 9,000 school children. These schools 
are well sustained by the interest on the perma- 
nent county fund, a mill tax upon the entire as- 
sessed valuation of $6,392,180, the apportionment 
from the State fund and the publrc fines and pen- 
alties. 

The pul:)lic and private morals are attested by the 
presence and work of nearly half a hundred church 
organizations. 

MANUFACTURES AND RAILROADS. 
There are a score of steam saw and flouring 
mills; as many miscellaneous manufacturing con- 
cerns ; about one hundred miles of railway, divided 
between the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northern Rail- 
road, following the Mississippi River across the 
entire county ; the Chicago & Alton, crossing the 
entire central division of the county from east to 
west, and the St. Louis, Hannibal & Keokuk, cross- 
ing the entire central division from norlli to south. 
These three lines give the county fourteen passen- 
ger and shipping stations, leaving no producer more 
than two hours drive from a railway market. 

PRICE OF LANDS. 
The cheapest lands in America are in old Pike 
County and the other counties of Northern Mis- 
souri. In Pike County are noble reaches of wild 



land (timber and prairie) of inexhaustible soU, 
awaiting hundreds of purchasers, at four to ten 
dollars per acre. These tracts are sandwiched 
between fine, old farms, and are neighboring to 
churches, schools, and mills, and are surrounded by 
refined and well ordered society. They are rela- 
tively one hundred per cent, cheaper than free 
homesteads on the far western border, and abso- 
lutely cheaper than wild lands four hundred miles 
further west, on the treeless plains. 

Many improved farms are offering at eight to 
twenty-five dollars per acre, on easy tex-ms of pay- 
ment — farms that in Uliiiois or Iowa would go on a 
quick market at twenty-five to fifty dollars per 
acre. Many of these farms are offered for less than 
the cost of the buildings, fences and orchards 
thereon. 

COUNTY ROADS. 

There are within the limits of the county, radi- 
ating in every direction from Louisiana, one hun- 
dred miles of as fine gravel roads as can be found 
anywhere on earth. 

TOWNS. 

The City of Louisiana, situated on the bank of the 
Mississippi, eighty-three miles above St. Louis, and 
containing 6,000 people, is the chief town. Louisiana 
is a solidly built city, chiefly of brick, and contain- 
ing many handsome edifices, chief among which are 
the public school building and the Baptist college. 
Louisiana has three railroads and three gravel 
roads. 

Clarksville, the second town in size and wealth,, 
is situated twelve miles below Louisiana, on the 
Mississippi. Clarksville contains about 3,000 people, 
and has many fine residences and business house*, 
and does a large commercial business. The St. 
Louis & Keokuk Railroad furnishes communication 
with all points by rail. 

Bowling Green, the county seat, is a thrifty and 
rapidly growing city of about 1,500 inhabitants, 
situated iVt the intersection of the Chicago & j\Jton 
and Short Line Railroad, eleven miles west of 
Louisiana. The court house in Bowling Green cost 
one hundred thousand dollars. 

Besides these cities there are the towns of Frank- 
ford, Curryville, Ashley, Paynesville, Prairieville, 
Spencerburg, New Hartford and other smaller ones, 
all thoroughly prosperous. 



PLATTE COUNTY. 



Platte county is located in the western part of the 
State, and is bounded north by Buchanan County; 
east by Clinton and Clay, and south and west by the 
Missouri River, which separates it from the State of 
Kansas. Its area is 276,000 acres. 

By the census of 1870, it contained a population 
of 17,352, of which 16,100 were white, and 1,193 were 
colored; 9,114 male, and 8,238 female; 10,359 were na- 
tives, and 993 foreigners. 

PHYSICAL FEATURES. 

About onc-lUth of Platte County is beautiful, un- 
dulating prairie, the soil of which is of unsurpassed 



fertility. The remainder is heavily timbered with 
the various species of oak, hickory, walnut, elm, 
hackberry, etc., and, when cleared, produces flue 
crops. The Missouri bluffs are generally too steep 
to be cultivated, but are well adapted to be crowned 
and flanked by beautiful vineyards. The growth 
on them is about the same as that upon thu up- 
lands. 

STREAMS. 

The county is well watered by tlio Platte Uiver, 
from which it derives its name, and its tributaries, 
Dick, Smitli's Fork,Prairie Creek, etc. ; also, by mau7~ 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



22.- 



small tributaries of tlie Missouri River, cliief of 
which are Bear, Moore, Bee and Bi-ush Creeks. Pro- 
fessor Broadhead, the distinguished geologist of 
Missouri, saj-s, iu his geological report: "Proba- 
bly, no county in the State possesses superior ad- 
vantages to Platte. It contains a large quantity of 
rich land, is well watered, and abounds in good 
timber, including most kinds that are iiseful." 

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 

The agricultural products are corn, wheat, oats, 
hay, barley, rye, hemp and tobacco. Sorghum, sweet 
potatoes and buckwheat, grow luxuriantly. Blue 
grass grows spontaneously where timber has been 
thinned out, and timothy and red-top, and other 
grasses, succeed well. The soil is well adapted to 
fruit-raising, and the number and extent of or- 
chards are annually increasing, many farmers mak- 
ing them a specialty. Stock-raising is a source of 
great wealth to the county, and, of late years, some 
&ne breeds of animals have been introduced with 
marked success. 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 

There is a considerable deposit of coal, but at too 
great a depth to be mined at present with profit. 
Building stone and brick clay of a line quality 
abound, thus enabling the people to build substan- 
tial and enduring houses at a comparatively small 
•outlay of money. 

THE MANUFACIURING INTERESTS. 

There are some good flouring mills, one cheese 
factory, four plow factories, and one furniture fac- 
tory in the county, with a large number of saw mills 
and other shops of various kinds. 

WEALTH. 

The valuation of the county by the census of 1870, 
was $13,000,00, but this has very much decreased of 
late years in consequence of ti^e shrinkage of values 
growing out of the depressed condition of affairs 
throughout the whole country. 

RAILROADS. 

The Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Rail- 
road runs northwest through the county, along the 
Missouri bottom, for about thirty miles. The Chi- 
cago, Kock Island & Pacilic Railroad traverses the 
county, from the iron bridge across the Missouri 
River at Leavenworth, in a northeastern direction, 
for twenty-six miles. There are also ten miles of 
this road connecting Edgerton and Atchison, by way 
of New Market, thus affording ample shipping facil- 
ities to that prodvictive region. 

THE EXPORTS 

are chiefly hogs, bacon, lard, corn and wheat ; hemp, 
wool, timber, fruit, cattle, horses, mules, sheep, and 
numerous small grains. 

FINANCIAL. 

The county has about $300,000 of a bonded debt, 
that matui-es in 18S6, and has never made default in 
the payment of its interest. The rate of taxation is 
nominal for aU pui-poses, and the county appropri- 



ates annually $12,000 as a sinking fund for the I'a;,'- 
ment of its bonds at maturity. 

THE PRICE OF LAND. 

Good farms can be purchased at from $12.50 to $30 
per acre, according to location and improvement. 
The people are generous, hospitable and orderly, 
and realize that their county is among the best to be 
found anj'Avhere, and, consequently, are contented 
and happj'. 

SCHOOL FACILITIES. 

The same system of public schools obtains here 
that is in vogue throughout the State. The people 
take a lively interest in educational matters, and 
consequently the schools are very numerous and 
largely attended. Schools are taught aboiit ten 
months in the year in every sub -district, and there 
are high schools at Camden Point, Weston and 
Platte Cit5% besides other fli-st-class educational 
institutions. The school fund is ample and securely 
invested, the interest of which brings annually a 
handsome sum for the support of the schools. 

TOWNS. 

Platte City is the county seat, and is located on 
Platte River, and on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pa- 
cific Railroad, 310 miles from Chicago, and eleven 
miles from Leavenworth, Kansas. It was settled in 
1S40, and has at present a population of about 700 or 
800. There is a fall of about eight feet in the Platte 
River at this point, which is increased by a dam to 
fourteen feet. This valuable water-power, which is 
sufficient for extensive manufactories, is now used 
only for an extensive flouring mill. The court house 
is a handsome and massive structure, and cost $110,- 
000. The public schools are an honor to the place, 
and Daughters' College,located here, is a prosperous 
female boarding-school, under the management of 
able and accomplished teachers. There are tTvo 
banks that do an extensive business ; about ten or a 
dozen stores, the usual number of shops and other 
industries, besides two newspapers. 

Weston is the principal commercial town of the 
county. It is located on the Missouri River, and on 
the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Rail- 
road. It is in a fine agricultural and blue grass re- 
gion, and was laid out in 1837, and soon became the 
commercial city of the county. It shipped, at one 
time, more hemp than any other point on the Mis- 
souri River. Tobacco, also, for some years was 
largely exported. 

Parkville is also situated on the Missouri River, 
and on the Kansas City, St. .Joe & Council Bluffs 
Railroad. It was laid out in 1839 by Colonel George 
S. Parks, and soon became a place of considerable 
business importance. It has somewhat declined, 
both in business and population, of late years, 
owing to its trade to some extent being diverted to 
Kansas City, eight miles distant, but still there is 
quite an amount of business done there, and indica- 
tions are plainly visible of a reviving prosperity. 
It has a good graded school and several chui-ches. 
The population is about six hundred. 

New Market is on the Chicago, Rock Island & 
Pacific Railroad, eight miles north of the junctiou 
of the same road with its branch, and in the center 
of one of the finest agricultural regions in the State. 



224 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



It has good educational facilities and churches, and 
has a population of about three hundred. 

Camden Point is on the Cliicago, Rock Island & 
Pacific Railroad, seven miles north .of Platte City, 
and is the seat of the Christian Oi'phans' College, 
an institution that is ably conducted by a corps of 



teachers, and in a flourishing and prosperous con 
dition. Tlie place contains several stores, and has 
a population of about four hundred. 

The other minor places of the county are Edger- 
ton, Farley, latan, Ridgely, Shivelton, Waldron, City 
Point and Beverly Station. 



POLK COUNTY. 



Polk. County has an area of 640 square miles and a 
population of 15,000; is twenty-four miles in width 
from east to west, and twenty-six and one-half in 
length from north to south; lies in Soutliwest 
Jlissouri, on the northern slopes of the Ozark range 
and is drained by tributaries of the Osage ; comprises 
410,000 acres, a little more tlian one-third of which 
is rich prairie, generally level, but frequently gently 
undulating. About one -fifth of the county is alluvial 
creek and river bottoms, very productive and fre- 
quently well timbered; tlie balance of the county 
consists of ricli valleys and timbered uplands, very 
much of which is best adapted for pasturage. The 
surface is generally rolling, and along the breaks of 
streams hilly and rocky. 

PRODUCTION STATISTICS. 

There are about 200,000 acres in cultivation, the 
yield of which in 1879 is estimated as lollows : 

Indian Corn bushels 3,500,000 

Wheat Ijushels 000,000 

Oats bushels 250,000 

Potatoes bushels 250,000 

Hay tons 20,000 

Molasses (Sorghum) gallons 150,000 

These are the staple products, although rye, 
hemp, and flax yield well. Fruits and vegetables 
flourish and mature to perfection. The county 
takes high rank in fruit-growing. Apples, pears, 
peaches, grapes and small fruits yield abundantly, of 
the finest quality and richest flavor. Mucli atten- 
tion is being given to fruit culture, and fine orchards 
are numerous; the trees thrive well, are healthy, 
and not subject to the i-avages of insects, as they 
are in many other localities. 

Sugar cane grows well, and the manufacture of 
sorglium is greatly increased every year until now 
it is becoming a leading business. 

MINERALS. 

The county abounds in large deposits of lead, 
iron and coal. Surface indications are numerous, 
but little has as yet been done in the way of devel- 
opment. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

Polk County is pre-eminently fitted lor stock- 
raising. Cattle and sheep will live and fatten on 
the commons for eiglit montlis in the year, without 
feed or attention. The higli, dry cliaracter of the 
uncuiltivated pasture lands, is especially adapted to 
the raising of sheep, and a little capital invested in 
that way yields a handsome income. Sheep are 
bealtliy, prolific, and are not troubled with scab, or 



other diseases, common elsewhere. A cross betweea 
the native and Cotswold varieties pays best. The 
wool is highly prized and valuable, and the cross 
makes fine mutton sheep for market. There are 
thousands of acres of high, rocky lands in this 
county, on the breaks of the streams, that it would 
seem that JSature has specially provided for pastoral 
IJurposes. Sheep and cattle always bring good 
prices, and are never a drag in the market. 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. 

In educational facilities the county claims a 
leading rank. There are eighty-five public school 
houses, many of them handsome and commodious 
biiildings. The public fund is suflicient in many dis- 
tricts to support a school for six months in the year. 
The school moneys are invested in ten per cent, 
loans, and usually well secured. There are several 
academies and graded public schools. Morrisville 
College, chartered in 1S72, is located at Morrisville, 
in the midst of a fine agricultural district, remark- 
able for the purity of its water, healthy climate, and 
elevated moral sentiment. The institution is rap- 
idly gaining in public favor and patronage. The 
curriculum embraces all that is usually taught in 
Western colleges. The faculty is full, able and 
energetic; the cliemical aiKl astronomical labora- 
tories are well supplied and increasing, while its 
library has kept pace with the growth of the insti- 
tution. 

The Southwest Baptist College, located in Bolivar, 
was chartered in 1879, and doubtless will soon be 
one of the leading institutions in the State. The 
building is a handsome edifice, and quite an orna- 
ment to the town. It will accommodate three hun- 
dred and fifty students, and furnish sitting room in 
the chapel for seven hundred persons. The present 
is its first session, representing four States and 
nearly every county in Southwest Missouri. The 
citizens of Polk and adjoining counties have con- 
tributed quite liberally to the building and support 
of this college, and feel justly proud of it. 

RAILWAYS. 

There are three projected railways through 
Bolivar, the county seat. The Laclede and Fort 
Scott, fi-om Lebanon, on the St. Louis & San Fran- 
cisco Railway, to Fort Scott, Kansas, which is 
graded to Bolivar, and will likely be completed this 
year; tlie Sedalia, Warsaw & Southern, from 
Sedalia, on tlie Missouri Pacific Kailway, to Spring 
field, which is now in course of construction; and 
the Kansas City & Memphis, which was mostly 
graded, some years ago, from Kansas City to 
Osceola, thirty-six miles northwest of Bolivar, and 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



225 



which is now being rapidly constructed by a com- 
pany of Boston capitalists. With the completion of 
any one of these railways through the county, Polk 
will soon resume her former position as the second 
best county in Southwest Missouri, as will be shown 
■ by an examination of her production of grain, live 
stock, etc., elsewhere stated. 

ESTIMATED SHIPMENTS OF 187!). 

Cattle head 20,000 

Sheep ". 15,000 

Hogs " 27,000 

Horses and mules " 5,000 

Wheat bushels 250,000 

TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

Bolivar, the county seat, is a pleasant and healthy 
town of about 1,200 inhabitants, contains many sub- 
' etantial public buildings and business houses, and 
quite a number of desirable private residences. 
The town is well laid out, and commands a good 
trade, which is rapidly increasing. 

Humansville is a thriving village in the northwest 
poi'tion of the county; contains ajjopulatiou of 400 
and does a large trade. One of the tinest springs in 
Southwest Missouri is located here. 

Morrisville, ten miles south of Bolivar, is a neat 
little town of three hundred inhabitants, and is the 



seat of Morrisville College. It has beautiful sur- 
roundings, being located in the center of a line 
agricultural district. Pleasant Hope, Pair Play, 
Brighton, Halfway, Orleans, Hondo and Slagle are 
country villages that have considerable trade, and 
good surrounding country. 

SUMMARY — PRICE OF LANDS — SOCIAL, RE- 
LIGIOUS AND FINANCIAL MATTERS. 

The county is remarkably healthy, being almost 
free from malarial and miasmatic diseases. Its cool, 
gushing springs of pure water are numerous; its 
hills and valleys afford flue pasturage; lands are 
cheap— good, unimproved lands being held at from 
;i;2 to $10 per acre, improved at from ?5 to $15, and 
line pasture lands at from fifty cents to $;5 — and agri- 
cultural pursuits profitable. The society is excellent 
and citizens Iiospitable; churches numerous, and 
well attended. Religious denominations are gener- 
ally represented, and the Baptist, Methodist, 
Presbytei-ian and Christian orders are the leading. 
Politically the county is very nearly equally divided. 
Tl\e county is in a healthy financial condition. It 
has no floating debt, its warrants are at par, and the 
interest on its bonded debt of ?33,500 is promptly 
paid as it matures. Taxes are low, the county 
credit good, and, in short, the county presents many 
inducements to immigrants seeking good lioines in 
the great West. 



PULASKI COUNTY. 



Pulaski County lies on the eastern boi'der of what 
Is known as Southwest Missoui-i, 150 miles south- 
west from St. Louis, and is bounded on the north 
by the counties of Miller and Maries; on the east 
by Maries and Phelps; on the south Ijy Texas and 
Laclede, and on the west by Laclede and Camden. 

PHYSICAL features; 

Like the rest of the country bordering on the 
Gasconade River, it is of a rather hilly and undu- 
lating nature. The Gasconade River, one of the 
large streams in the State, traverses the county 
from west by south, flowing toward the northern 
part of, and leaving the county at nearly the 
northeast corner; its banks being the starting 
point of thousands of acres of broad, unexcelled 
bottom lands, of exceeding fertility. Roubidoux 
Creek enters the county from the south, flows due 
north, and enters the Gasconade River near the 
center of the county, about two miles northwest of 
the county seat. The Piney Fork, of the Gasconade, 
enters the county at the southeast corner thereof, 
and, flowing northwardly, enters the Gasconade 
River about six miles from Avhere the Gasconade 
leaves the county. A portion of Lick Fork, of the 
Gasconade River, flows through a portion of the 
southwest quarter of the county. * 

SOILS AND PRODUCTIONS. 

It will be seen that Pulaski County has agricul- 
tural advantages inferior to no other county in the 
State. The river bottoms are of alluvial deposits. 



rich in sandy loam, of unknown depth. TUe soil 
on the smaller streams is of great depth, with 
yellow and red clay foundations. The soil in the 
numberless valleys, interspersed over the county, 
is of proportionate quality, according to their 
altitude. Tlie soil on the ridges is veiy fertile, being 
what is known as black hickory, black-jack and 
post oak soils, and is exceedingly fine for the pro- 
duction of all the cereals generally raised in 
this latitude, such as corn, M'heat, oats, rye, barley, 
all the grasses, and garden productions. The soil 
of the river bottoms bordering on the Gasconade, 
Roubidoux, and all the streams, is so rich that it 
is known as the "Scioto Corn Regions" of South- 
west Missouri. All the fruits grow here equally 
well in the bottoms as on the ridges. There are 
thousands of acres in this county that have not as 
yet been brought under cultivation, and are on 
the market. The range in this county calinot 
be sui-passed; and, for sheep -raising, the fanjous 
hills of Vermont have found a rival. 

TRANSPORTATION. 

The St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, which 
traverses the entire county, north of the center, 
furnishes an outlet to the markets of the world, 
for all sui-plus grain, stock, etc., that seek one. 

THE HEALTH 

of the people of this county is generally good. In 
the low lands, especially during the fall months, 
chills prevail for a short time, but are never fatal. 
On the uplands no healthier location can be found. 



226 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



THE INDEBTEDNESS 

of this county being light, the rate of taxation is 
proportionally so. 

PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 

Waynesville, the county seat, is furnished with a 
new brick court house, containing court rooms and 
offices for all the county officers. 

WATER PRIVILEGES. 

There are in this county two steam flouring 
mills, and six water power flouring mills, and six 
or seven steam saw mills, to saw up the immense 
forests of yellow pine, black and white walnut, 
maple, and all the various oaks known in this 
climate. There are in this county, outside the 
numerous water power mill sites unused on rivers, 
various large spi-ings sufficient M-ithin themselves 
to run a mill each. There are several good openings 
in this county awaiting the opportune arrival of 
capital to start into existence factories of any kind, 
size or nature. 

TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

There are numerous villages already in existence 
through the county. Waynesville is the county 
seat, and is situated on the Roubidoux, near the 
center of the county. The St. Louis & San Francisco 
Railroad has been the cause of exciting the energy 
of the people, as is shown b.v the improved towns 
of Richland, Woodend, Crocker, Hancock, Dixon 
and Franks, along the line of their road in this 
county. 



FARMS FOR SALE. 

This road has a large number of acres of laud yet 
for sale, at pi-ices ranging fi-om two dollars and fifty 
cents to ten dollars per acre, and on long time at 
that. Land can be bought, outside the railroad 
lands, from two dollars and fifty cents to twenty 
dollars per acre for improved lands. 

MINERALS. 

There are iron and lead now being mined in this 
county, and lately good coal has been reported as 
having been discovered. 

TAXATION. 

The rate of taxation for all purposes is about one 
dollar and twenty-five cents on the one hundred 
dollars, and there is no bonded or floating indebted- 
ness of any kind. 

SOCIETY 

in this county is unsurpassed by any in the State. 
The county is spotted over with school-houses and 
churches, of different denominations. The general 
educational advantages are unexcelled, as, in the 
numerous school districts of the county, the chil- 
dren have the advantage of from four to six months 
schooling, annually. Richland, on the St. Louis & 
San Francisco Railroad, has one of the finest and 
best conducted institutes in the State, with a repu- 
tation unexcelled. All religious societies are wel- 
comed by the people of every creed and denomina- 
tion prominent in religious circles — moral training 
being the general desire of the resident citizens of 
this county. Crime is rare. 



PUTNAM COUNTY. 



Putnam County is located in the extreme north- 
ern i)art of the State ; is bounded north by the State 
of Iowa, east by Schuyler, south by Adair and Sulli- 
van, and west by Mercer Counties, and contains 
331,487 acres of land. Its populatioii was, in 1870, 
11,217; by the census of 1880, 13,(510 — making an in- 
crease of 2,393 in the decade. 

The county was organized February 28, 1840, and 
then included a portion of the territory now form- 
ing a part of Iowa, which has been added to that 
State by the settlement of the boundary line. 

WATER, ETC. 

The county is well watered by the Cihariton, 
M'hich forms its eastern boundary ; Shoal Creek, 
Wild Cat and Black VAvd, in the eastern portion. 
The two Locusts, Barber and Medicine Creek fur- 
nish water and draiwage for the western ])ortion. 

CLIMATE. 

The climate cannot be surpassed. The winters 
are very short and mild, the summers long and 
temperate. The seasons are such as produce 
abundant harvests, and givetlic citizens the best of 
health. No malarial diseases to speak of are found, 
and ague and chills art' '>ut little known. 



SOIL. 

The soil is fertile and adapted to the raising of all 
kinds of fruit, cereals and grass, as the "well filled 
barns and granaries fully testify. For raising grain 
and grass, no spot in the L^nited States is moi-e 
favored. 

TIMBER. 

Timber is pretty evenly distributed over the 
western portion of the county, and in the eastern 
part every species of tree that is valuable in manu- 
facturing communities can be found. Oak in six or 
seven species, ash, maple, soft and hard hickory, 
walnut and elm prevailing. 

COAL. 

The mining of coal is becoming quite an industry. 
A great deal of land has already been leased for 
mining iDurj)oses, and the coal regions bid fair to 
become a source of great wealtli to the county. 

FRUITS 

of every kind common to the temperate zone grow 
here in luxuriance. Apples, peaches, pears, plums, 
cherries, twenty or more varieties of grapes, all 
kinds of small fruits and berries, are paying crops in 
this favored county. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



227 



STOCK-RAISING. 

The immense crops of corn, oats and hay — the 
never-failing pastures — living streams and groves of 
young timber for shelter — grass for pasturage two 
hundred and sixty days in the year — mild winters 
and pleasant summers make this a favored 
spot for stock-raisers. Water in abundance. Xo 
diseases, or poisonous flies to kill off the stock. 
Blue grass grows as luxuriantly as iipou its native 
soil of Kentucky, which accounts for the " droves" 
of large, fat cattle, strong draft horses, and choice 
hogs. These are all i-aised and sliipped in great 
numbers. 

EDUCATION. 

The people believe in education, as is evinced by 
the many neat school buildings scattered througli 
the county, some ninety in number, averaging one 
to each four square miles of territory. Unionville, 
the county-seat, has just voted eight thousand dol- 
lars to build a neat graded school biiilding, and no 
count}' in the West can boast of a better standard of 
scholarship in their common schools than this. 

The county has two well conducted uewspai^ers, 
published weekly. 

CHARACTER OF POPULATION. 

In its character the population is cosmopolitan, 
and is made up from every State in the Union. 
Prior to 1860, the immigration was iirincipally from 
Kentucky and Virginia, but since that time the pop- 



ulation has been drawn from New York, Illinois, 
Ohio and the Eastern States. Inpolitics, the Repub- 
licans have a majority of between five hundred and 
seven hundred, but no sectional prejudice exists. 

TAXES. 

Taxes are very light; the State and county, includ- 
ing school taxes, amount to about 1 1--2 cents on the 
dollar, and the assessment is about two-thirds of 
the true valuation. 

PRICE OF LANDS. 

The price of lands is very low, when the advan- 
tages this county offers to the settler are taken into 
consideration. Good, well improved lands sell at 
from ten to fifteen dollars per acre, and wild lands 
at from five to eight dollars per acre. 

The improved farms contain good houses, stables, 
out-houses, orchards, and the very best of soil, and 
are conveniently located to churches, schools, and 
railroads. 

COUNTY SEAT. 

Unionville, the county seat, contains a population 
of eight hundred, by census of 1S80, and it would be 
dillicult to find a more enterprising or hospitable 
class of citizens than those now located in this town, 

HINTS TO CAPITALISTS. 

A first-class flour mill, a wagon manufactory, a 
machine shop and foundry, would be profitable 
investments. 



EALLS COUNTY. 



Ralls county is located in the northeastern part of 
the State, on the MississippiRiver, the fourth county 
from the Iowa line, and the fourth north of St. Louis ; 
bounded north by Marion County, west by Monroe, 
south by Audrain and Pike counties, and east by 
the Mississippi River. 

HOW WATERED. 

The county is divided into two nearly equal parts 
by Salt River, a fine, fast flowing stream of consid- 
erable size, meandering through it from west to 
east. This stream, together with numerous creeks 
and many flowing si)riugs, furnishes abundance of 
clear, living water, to a very large portion of the 
county. Quite a niimber of bold, bubbling mineral, 
and salt springs, are found in the county, and at 
some three or four of which, salt was manufactured 
in the pioneer days — viz: at Saverton, Fremore and 
Bouvits Licks, and perhaps at other places. 

THE SURFACE OP THE COUNTRY 

is generally undulating, and susceptible of varied 
ciiltivation, while the eastern part, along the " Great 
River," is somewhat broken and rough; the central 
and western portions comprise large expanses of 
beautiful, rolling ijrairi«, and large tracts of the 
most fertile elm and oak lauds. About three-flfths 
of the ccuuty was foimerly covered with timber; 



large tracts growing the finest white, red, black and 
burr oak, black walnut, white walnut, linden, red 
and slippery elm, hackberry, cotton-wood, hickory, 
black and blue ash, etc. The prairie in its natural 
state i^roduced a rank growth of tall, nutricious 
grass, affording the best of pasture — all indicating- 
a soil of great virgin fertility. Rock, limestone and 
sandstone, particularly the former, abounds, yet not 
in a shape to interfere with cultivation — though fur- 
nishing the best of building material at a merely 
nominal cost. 

THE SOIL, 

In the " bottoms" along the rivers and creeks, is 
a deep, rich, indestructible alluvium, seldom, if 
ever, failing to yield enormous crops, as neither 
drouth nor rain seems to seriously affect the 
growth of vegetation here ; sand entering so largely 
into the composition of the soil as to permit the 
excess of water to sink in Met weather, and the 
great depth of the alluvium, affording a constantly 
arising moisture during seasons of drouth. 

The prairie soil consists of a rich, black loam, 
ranging from ten to twenty inches in depth — very 
fertile. The soil of timbered uplands is of different 
qualities, as indicated by the different kinds of 
timber. Where is found a tract now, or formerly, 
covered by a large gro\A'th of lofty elm, Avaluut, 
hackberry or linden, there is a deep, black soU, 



228 



Hand-Book of Missouri, 



generally on a red-clay substratum, almost as fer- 
tile as the bottom lands, and really better adapted 
to the production of small grain than they. The 
oak lands produce the finest wheat. 

PUKSUITS OF THE PEOPLE. 

The population is almost entirely engaged, di- 
rectly or indirectly, in agriculture, but very little 
manufacturing of any kind being done in the 
county. Nearly all of the tools and implements are 
manufactured at other places. AVith a bountiful 
supply of water, timber and coal, it would seem 
that few places could olfer greater inducements to 
the skilled mechanic and man of capital than Ralls 
County. Hundreds of independent, industrious and 
enterprising farmers are ready and eager to furnish 
such of their subsistence— grain, meat, vegetables, 
wool, etc.— and take in return for their own use and 
consumption, the fruits of their skill applied and 
means invested. 

THE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS 

are corn, wheat, oats, hay, tobacco, and the many 
varieties of vegetables used for home consumption, 
such as Irish and sweet jjotatoes, Cabbage, beets, 
onions, parsnips, carrots, turnips, etc. Wheat is 
grown extensivel}', of a very fine quality, generally 
not grading under No. 2 in tlie St. Louis market. 
The yield is from ten to forty bushels, and some- 
times even more, to the acre. Oats are also largely 
■cultivated, yielding from thirty to seventy-five 
bushels per acre. Hay is a very profitable crop, 
and largely grown. Blue grass grows spontane- 
ously, and is fast taking the place of other grasses. 
Its growth is very luxuriant, and it makes the very 
best of pasture the year round for cattle, sheep, 
hogs, horses and mules. 

THE MINERAL RESOURCES 

of the county have received but little attention. 
Coal in large quantities is known to exist in the 
southwestern part of the county, underlying, per- 
ha])s, a hundred square miles of territory, and crop- 
ping out in many places on the surface. Thus far 
nothing but surface deposits have been worked. 
No deep prospecting lias been done. And from all 
indications it is thought that there are lower strata 
much more valuable than tliose foun<l on the sur- 
face. Iron, lead, and gold, and silver, are found in 
limited quantities in the eastern and nothcrn parts 
of the count}'. As yet they have received but little 
attention, and, in all probability, when tested by 
.skilful hands, on scientific ])i-inciples, will open up 
mines of untold wealth. 

THE FINANCIAL CONDITION. 

or rather outlook, is, on tbe whole, not unfavorable. 
Except a railroad bonded indel)tedness of about 
?20(>,0(I0, tlie county is clear of debt. The validity 
of the railroad bonds is Iteing contested in tlie Fed- 
eral Courts, and if tlie whole thing is not ultimately 
defeated, a compromise will undoubtedly be made 
at a figure so low as to be but little, if any, practical 
embarrassment to the people. 

THE RATE OF TAXATION. 

exclusive of school tax, is about one percent; this 
includes forty cents for State revenue, and State 



interest, forty cents for county proper, and twenty 
cents for road tax. 

THE SCHOOL SYSTEM 

is a source of no small gratification and pride to 
the people. The county is laid off into sixty- 
three districts, each supplied with a good, com- 
fortable school-house, where competent teachers 
are engaged for terms ranging from four to ten 
months in tlie year — generally not less than six 
months — thus affording ample opportunities for 
rich and poor alike for acquiring the rudiments of 
a good, ICnglish education. There is in New Lon- 
don a graded school, conducted on the same basis, 
financially, as the country schools where the higher 
mathematics and the languages are taught in addi- 
tion to all the common English branches. Renselaer 
Academy, located in tlie northern part of the county, 
near the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, is con- 
ducted by the Presbyterians, is an institution of 
acknowledged merit, fine location, and convenient 
of access ; and being surrounded and siipported by 
a very intelligent, enterprising, and hospitable com- 
munity, is, perhaps, one of tbe very best country 
schools to be found anywhere in the "West. These 
facilities, supplemented by the liberal inducements 
oflei'ed by tlie State University, at Columbia, and 
numerous institutions of learning, in easy reach of 
even the poor, afford ample opportunity to all hav- 
ing the inclination and requisite energy to tread the 
paths of science and art, and ascend the heights of 
learning. 

RELIGIOUS. 

The vfirious religious denominations are well 
represented in the county. The Presbyterians have 
four churches; Methodists, five; Baptists, eleven, 
Christians (Campbellites), seven, and Catholics, 
three. Most all of them have good, substantial 
meeting-houses, and their congregations are re- 
spectable in numbers, and are steadily increasing. 
Perhaps no community in any part of the West can 
justly boast of a better social and moral standing — 
honest}', industry, hospitality, general intelligence, 
and prudent enterprise being traits universally met 
with among the people. 

TRANSPORTATION, MARKETS AND TOWNS. 

The broad Mississiiijii sweeps along the eastern 
border. The Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad 
strikes into the north and iiortlnvest. The Missouri, 
Kansas & Texas i)ass('s through tlie northern part, 
the St. Louis & Keokuk along tbe eastern line ; the 
St. Louis, Hannibal & Keokuk runs through the 
east central part through the county seat toward 
St. Louis ; tlie Chicago & Alton touches the southern 
part, and the Ralls County branch, graded and 
ready for tbe ties, runs southwest through the best 
]>ortion of the county, llirough the coal region in 
llie direction of INlexico and .Jefferson Cily. Han- 
nibal, one of the best inarliets and sbi])i)ing points 
on the Mississippi Hiver, is almost within a stone's 
throw of the county line at the northeast; is ap- 
proached from tlie county by splendid gravel and 
dirt roads. Savcnton, on the Mississippi, is a station 
on the St. Louis & Keokuk, and affords a point from 
which to ship either by rail or water. Monroe City 
on the northwest, and Vaiidalia on the south, fur- 
nish excellent markets and shipping ))oints — the 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



229 



former being located on the Hannibal & St. Joseph, 
and Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railways, the latter 
on the Chicago & Alton. New London, the county, 
seat, is located on the St. Louis, Hannibal & Keokuk 
Eailroad, is surrounded by a very fertile district of 
country, and furnishes a market and shipping point 
for immense quantities of wheat, corn, and live 
stock. Besides these there are within the county 
Hassard and Renselaer, on the Missouri, Kansas 
& Tfexas, Camp Creek, Plum Creek and Ellizabeth 
station, on the St. Louis, Hannibal & Keokuk. As 
before stated, the Ralls County branch railroad, 
running southwesterly from New London, is graded 
and ready for the ties andiron. This road passes 
tlirough a beautiful prairie district of country for a 
distance of thirty miles. Timber of excellent qual- 
ity is within easy reach at all points; the soil is of 
good qualit}', and the track passes directly over rich 
coal deposits for a distance of near a dozen miles. 
On this route and on Lick Creek is located the town 
of Perry, in the midst of the rich coal banks. This 
town has a bright future before it. With its mag- 
nittcent and surrounding resources of coal, timber, 
water, splendid building material, mineral points 
of various kinds, as well as a most prolific soil, and, 
-being the center of a large circle of trade, it is only 
necessary that its railroad be furnished and its 
great natural advantages be developed to make it a 
place of very considerable importance, both as a 
manufacturing and trading town. Center, located 
■on the same route, about midway between New 
London and Perry, is a thriving town, in which a 
good amount of business is now carried on, which 
would be greatly increased by the completion of the 
railroad and the developnient of the adjacent 
country. New London is beautifully located on an 
eminence, affording a fine view of tlie valley of 
Salt River, and a rich and beautiful surrounding 
country. It has a population of about 700 souls, five 
churches, two school-houses, and the public build- 
ings of the county; a flourishing bank, four black- 
smith shops, two dry good stores, five groceries, 
three drug stores, harness and saddlery fac- 
tory, one shoe shop, three good hotels, several 
boarding houses, two steam mills, a good saw mill, 
a new elevator, a hardware store, a stove and tin 
store and tinners' shop — and needs a dozen enter- 
prising men of capital to do tlie business it should 
do — as well a wagon and plow factory, and many 
other manufucturing establishments that would be 
well sustained, if well managed. There are two 



preachers, ten or twelve school teachers, about 
half a dozen lawyers, and nearly as many good 
medical doctors. 

PRICK OF LANDS. 

Lands throughout the county are very cheap, 
considering social, edncational and commercial ad- 
vantages, ranging generally from five to forty 
dollars per acre. Many imjjroved farms can be 
bought at from ten to thirty dollars per aci'e. Several 
thousand steady, industrious men and women, from 
other States and countries, are needed to give 
diversity to associations ; enlarge the circle of 
pi'oductions ; break up provincialisms and preju- 
dices ; force agriculture out of its old-time worn 
routes ; reduce to a pi-oductive state the thousands 
of acres of uncultivated lands ; develop the mineral 
resources, and build up factories of all kinds. 
Dairies, vineyards, good orchards, and factories, are 
almost unknown to the people, except as they are 
known to exist in other i)laces ; yet, in Ralls County 
are raised the finest cattle ; having the best of 
pastures; abundance of clear running water; innu- 
merable rich hillsides and fertile valleys, awaiting 
the skilled hand of the pomologist, and many kinds 
of materials are wasting because the cunning skill 
of the manufacturer has never been invoked to save 
them and transform them into sources of comfort 
and happiness to the people. 

SUMMARY OF ADVANTAGES. 

Nowhere can the honest, industrious home-seeker 
go, and meet with a warmer, kinder welcome than 
here ; nowhere in the great, growing West can he 
find a more genial climate ; nowhere can he find a 
greater variety of fertile soil, ready to yield him a 
rich recompense for all the labor and skill he may 
judiciously apply ; nowhere can he find soils, climate 
and conditions better adapted to whatever turn his 
taste may take — whatever branch of industry his 
inclination may follow in the grand and beautiful 
field of agriculture. He can raise wheat, corn, oats 
or grass ; or, he can turn his attention to the culture 
of fruits of all kinds, x)roduced in this latitude, such 
as apples, peaches, pears, plums, chei-ries, black- 
berries, raspberries, strawberries, etc. ; or, he may 
engage in raising horses, mules, cattle, slieep and 
hogs, witli the utmost certainty of success, if he 
will only combine judgment and persevei-ance with 
reasonable skill and industry. The field is equally 
open to mechanics and tradesmen. 



RANDOLPH COUNTY. 



Randolph County lies between the 01^ and 02' par- 
allel of longitude, and 39' and 40' north latitude, 
between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. It is 
part of the great water-shed of North Missouri, and 
sends off its streams to each river, thus giving rise 
to beautiful belts and groves of timber, interspersed 
with magnificent prairies. It is bounded on the 
north by Macon and Shelby, on the east by Monroe 
and Audrain, on the south by Howard and Boone, 



and on the west by Chariton County. The grand 
divide and old Indian trail pass in a northern di- 
rection throagh the eastern part of the county; 
leaving more than one -foorth, on tho east, dralood 

by streams flowing to tho MisiiBBipiiii, svliilr on "iG 
west they flow to the Missouri River. In the west, 
along Silver Creek, the county is quite rolling. 
Near the Chariton River, in the west, the land is 
undulating. The slopes adjacent to Dark and 



230 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



Nuncas Creeks are gentle, becoming more rolling 
near the middle forks of the Chariton River, in the 
northern part of the county. Xear the east fork of 
Walnut and Sugar Creeks, it is more rolling. 

The prairie east of the grand divide.with the timber 
skirting it, comprises about one -third of the county, 
and is finely adapted to general agricultural pur- 
suits. The westei'n jiortion of the county contains 
more timber than prairie land. 

The land is rich and of great productive qualities. 

THE TIMBER 

consists of elm, cotton-wood, shell-bark hickory, 
linden, and burr, swamp, red, white, and black 
oak, sycamore, hackl)erry, bii'ch, sugar, walnut, and 
white maple. The swamp land in the county com- 
Ijrises a vei-y small portion, and has mostly been 
drained sufficiently to be cultivated, and yields 
abundant crops. 

AGRICULTURAL PURSUITS. 

The soil in Randolph County is adapted to tlie 
production of all the small grains, corn and 
tobacco. Fruits, such as apple, pear, iJlunib, 
cherry, peaches, black, straw, and raspberries, cur- 
rants, etc., are almost never-failing crops, and of 
the most delicious qualities, when properly cared 
lor. In the growth of timothy and clover it can- 
not be surpassed by any county in the State; 
while blue grass is a natural gro"wth, sweeping over 
prairie and woodland, eating out everything that 
oomes in its way. 

THE MINERAL PRODUCTIONS 

of the county, so far as discovered, are coal, fire 
and potters' clay, copperas, zinc, and sandstone. 
Coal, especially of good quality, is found in veins 
of from three to five feet in thickness, cropping out 
in various localities. These are being mined success- 
fully and largely at Huntsville, Higbee, Rennick, 
Jacksonville, Elliott, and Thomas Hill; the ship- 
ments from Huntsville alone averaging three million 
bushels per annum. 

THE RAILROAD FACILITIES 

in the county are quite extensive, and the county 
has i^aid all subscriptions excepting one town- 
ship, which owes a small bonded debt on rail- 
road subscription. The Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific 
runs through Prairie, Sugar Creek, Cairo, Jackson 
and Salt Spring, a distance of about forty-three miles, 
passing through the towns of Renick, Moberly, Cairo 
and Jacksonville, on its northern extension, and 
through Huntsville and Clifton on its main line to 
Kansas City. The Missouri, Kansas & Texas tra- 
verses the county from east to west, through Union 
and Sugar Creek Townships, to the city of Moberly, 
and tlien in a soutliwestern direction, through Prai- 
rie and Moniteau, and tlirougli the towns of Elliott 
and Higbee, a distance of twenty- three miles. The 
Chicago & Alton, through Prairie, Moniteau and a 
portion of Silver Creek, and through tlie young 
towns of Clark, Higbee & Elliott, a distance of 
eigliteen miles ; and the Missouri & Mississippi Rail- 
road intended to run from Keokuk, Iowa, to tlie 
Missouri River, is graded tlirougli the western part 
of the county, a portion of the same being already 
built from Salisbury to Glasgow. 



FINANCIAL. 
Taxable property in the county, 

exclusive of railroad $4,218,795 

Railroad property, as valued by 

County Court 940,840 

Total $5,159,635 

Rate of taxation. State purposes 40 

County 40 

Road 5 

School 34 

Total $1 19 

Sugar Creek Township has a railroad tax of 
twenty-five cents. The total population of the 
county is about 26,000. 

EDUCATIONAL, RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL 
MATTERS. 

There ai-e seventy-five school districts and 
school-houses in the county, mostly frame, and 
well furnished, and good churches in almost every 
neighborhood. The mild temperature is between 
the northern and southern extremes, and with a 
mean elevation of 900 feet, gives a high average of 
liealth. Yery little marshy or swamp land is found 
in the county. Malaria, with its consequences, has 
disappeared, .and for health Randolph County will 
compare favorably with any county in the State of 
Missouri; and its population, in respect to intelli- 
gence, morality and sociability, is second to none 
other in any county; and no other people will, with 
more generous hands and warmer hearts, extend a 
welcome to all who may seek homes within her 
borders. 

CROP STATISTICS. 

The yield of the different productions of the 
county are about as follows : 

Wheat, per acre, bushels 18 

Corn, " " " 45 

Rye. " " " 2' 

Oats, " " " 45 

Timothy, tons 1 J 

Tobacco, pounds 1,000 

Beans, potatoes, sorghum, broom corn, huugarian. 
and millet do as well as in any other country. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

While general farming can be prosecuted with 
great success, that branch of farming for which 
Randolph is pre-eminently adapted is stock-raising. 
The grazing is fine and all other facilities excellent. 

PRINCIPAL TOWNS. 

Moberly is a beautiful city of nearly 10,000 inhabi- 
tants, and is, from its location, a railroad center of 
North Missouri. The machine shops of the Wabash, 
St. Louis & Pacific Railroad are located here, giving 
employment to nearly one thousand men. The 
streets are lighted with gas, and the finest public 
school building in the coiinty is located here. 

Huntsville, the county seat, near the center of 
the C(ninty, with a pojiulation of 2,500, Salt Spring 
Township, has splendid gas -works, gas lighted 
streets, with several streets macadamized, .and has 
extensive coal mines. It is the scat of 3Iouut 
Pleasant College — an institution of learning, with a 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



231 



high reputation. The "Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific 
Raih'oad passes through it. More than two million 
pounds of tobacco are shipped from this point 
alone, annually. 

Renwick, in Prairie Township, is a lively town of 
400 inhabitants, on the main line of the Wabash, St. 
Louis & Pacific Raih-oad. 

Higbee and Elliott, both in Moniteau Township, 
and on the line of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas 
Railroad, Higbee being also on the Chicago & 
Alton Railroad, have about 300 inhabitants each. 

Cairo, on the northern extension of the Wabash, 
St. Louis & Pacific Railroad, has 300 inhabitans. 



Jackson, in Jackson Township, on same railroad, 
has 350 inliabitants. « 

Clifton Hill, on west line of countj', on main line 
to Kansas of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Rail- 
road, has 150 inhabitants. All these smaller towns 
are surrounded by a rich agricultural country, and 
do a fine business. 

PRICE OF LAND. 

Farms can be purchased at various pi-ices, ranging 
from eiglit to twenty-five dollars per acre, accord- 
ing to location, imijrovements, etc., and unimproved 
land much cheaper. 



RAY COUNTY. 



Ray County has an area of 561 square miles, and 
■359,000 acres. It is bounded on the soutli by tlie Mis- 
souri River, on the west by Clay and Clinton 
Counties, on the nortli by Caldwell County, and on 
the east by Carroll County. It is less than tliirty 
miles from Kansas City, and only forty miles south- 
west of St. Joseph. Leavenworth and Atcliison are 
witliin forty miles of its western border. It is for- 
tunate in latitude, natural and artificial lines of 
transportation and travel, and especially so in its 
relation to the great central markets of the conntiy. 
The 

TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES 

of this county, too, are an attraction. Instead of 
Vow and somewhat swampy country, are beautiful, 
arable valleys, graceful, swelling prairies, charming 
intervals, ranges of low hills, and along the Missouri 
River, some of the most picturesque bluff lines in 
all the western country. One -fourth of tlie county 
is valley, principally along the Missouri River. The 
Missouri bottoms, whicli at some points are low, 
dead flats, subject to ovei-flows, ai-e here across the 
entire soutli J)order of Ray County, higli "bench" 
lands, fifteen to thirty feet above the riv^r bed, with 
admirable natural drainage, and always available to 
the agriculturalist. Tliey are from one to ten miles 
wide, tlieir average widtli across the country being 
about six miles. One tliird of Ihc county is made up 
of rolling prairies and parks. The prairies never 
drop into levels or plains, as in western Kansas and 
Kebraska, but resemble more the dead swells of a 
heavy sea, have natural drainage, and are, next to 
the pai-ks, the finest feature of the landscape. 

NATIVE TIMBER 

is most admirably distributed over tlie country, It 
is a constant alternation of forest, witli prairie as 
convenient as it is beautiful. Two-tliirds of tlie 
farms of the county are either a combination of 
timber and prairie, or are so situated as to have a 
near timber lot for farm uses. Unlike the great 
prairie regions, whose wooded belts are, at best, 
but a short, thin growth, these Raj' County forests 
are a stately and thick gi-owth of oak, elm, black 
walnut, sugar and white maple, ash, box elder, 
hickory, pecan, hackberry, coffee-bean, linden, 



sycamore and cotton-wood. Walnut and the better 
varieties of oak are in abundant supply, and heavy 
shipments of oak and walnut lumber and tinibQ^- are 
annually made from this county. 

MINERALS. 

Grey and blue limestone are found in massive 
quarries, finely stratified and easily worked from 
the clean, thin flags to the heaviest dimension stone. 
A fine article of freestone is also found in the 
bluffs at various points in the county. Next to its 
rich and versatile soil, the greatest natural resource 
of Ray County is its coal measures, underlying one- 
fourth of the county, in a twenty-four-inch vein. 
This coal is bituminous in kind, is fully equal in 
quality to the Itest soft coals of Illinois or the Cher- 
okee and Osage coals of Kansas. The vein crops 
out along the sharp ravines and Missouri River 
bluffs, in the southern portion of the county, where 
it is often worked by "stripping" and "drifting," 
but generally lies from sixty to one hundred feet 
below the surface, and underlying a strong stratum 
of rock, is very conveniently worked from the 
shafts. 

THE WATER SUPPLY 
is ample for all domestic needs. But it is the 
quality more than the quantity of the Ray County 
waters that will most interest the inquirer. The 
Missouri and Crooked Rivers, with the Crooke* 
Forks, the Fishing and Wakanda Creeks, and their 
branches, together with a score or more of small runs 
and numerous spring brooks, furnish an excellent 
supply of running water for stock-growing pur- 
poses. There are hundreds of clear, cold springs 
that are invaluable to the farmers of the county, for 
they are generally associated with groves of timber, 
which make a splendid rendezvous for live stock, 
both in summer and winter. Wells range from twelve 
to fifty feet iu depth, and rarely fail of an endunug 
and bountiful supplj^ of excellent water. 

PASTURAGE. 

Ray County has been settled fifty-eight years, 
and is weU. under cultivation, so that the native 
prairie grasses of the early day are pretty much a 
thing of histoiy. Only a few isolated patches oi 



232 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



" blue joint " remain to remind the early settlers of 
this beautiful region of tl^f "good old days," when 
the cattle, hoi'ses and niiiles ran at will over the 
fields of wild grasses and wild flowers. In their 
stead are rich corn fields, blue grass i^astures and 
clover and timothy meadows from end to end of 
Ray County. Not even the forests are exempt from 
the innovation. Blue grass is chief in Kay County 
as in old Kentucky. It is indigenous to the country 
and has conquered field, highway and forest, till 
both the wild and domestic blue grass pastures of 
this county woiild do honor to the estate of an 
Illinois or Kentucky cattle prince. In this mild 
climate it makes continual pasturage, and that 
makes wealth for any country. 

Clover and timothy meadows are very common in 
this country, and white clover is also seen every- 
where. For the breeders of prime cattle, ^heep, 
horses, mules and swine, it is an inviting region. 
Every facility for the successful production of this 
industry is here present ; cheap corn, fine pasturage 
of the best sort, admirable shelter, with genial, 
open winters, and an abundant supply of clear 
spring and running water. The following figures 
will give an idea of the extent of stock-raising and 
feeding in the county, and it must be borne in mind 
that the grades are of the best: 

Horses, 8,000; mules and asses, 7,000; cattle, '25,000; 
and swine, 35,000. Sheep are only raised in small 
flocks, of twenty to fifty upon each farm, and the 
Cotswolds seem to be the favorite. There are prob- 
ably about G,000 sheep kept in the county. 

The home market value of stock, will not mate- 
rially differ from prices in neighboring States. 

FRUIT-GROWING. 

The number, extent, thrift, and bounty of the 
orchards in this region will be a matter of surprise 
to all visitors. This is essentially a fruit country. 
The fine, well-traiued orchard is the rule, and not 
the exception. Little effort is required to plant and 
bring to perfection the apple, peach, pear, and 
cherry tree, and evei-y farmer of any thrift has his 
fruityard and orchard. Thriftier apple and peach 
trees cannot be found in the nwst famous fruit 
districts of the continent. Small fruits are an 
unqualified success. All the staple fruits are grown 
in profusion. The grape never fails, and, with these 
sunny southern and eastern exposures and genial 
climate, the vine seems " to the manor born." The 
forests and wild ravines abound with wild vines of 
many species and varieties, and wild fruits, of all 
kinds known to this latitude, grow in great profusion. 

THE SOIL AND ITS I'K0DUCTIVP:NESS. 

In the bottoms and " benches " it is, of course, 
the inevitable alluvium, bl.ack with vegetable de- 
composition and inexhaustibly rich with the drift 
of many ages. Here are lowland cornfields that 
have given fifty successive crops, covering an an- 
nual yield of fifty, seventy, ninety, and one hundred 
bushels per acre, and show no more sign of dimuni- 
tion in yield than when the pioneers gathered the 
se(;ond crop. One -fourth of the whole county is of 
this imperishable soil, that will be growing mam- 
moth corn when American civilization is a thous- 
and years old. On the high, rolling prairies, the 
soil is the same dark, rich, vegetable mould, that 



attains in Illinois and Iowa from two to five feet in 
depth, and is undei-laid with the famous loess, or 
lacustrine deposit, which is mostly composed of 
fine silicii, is rich in the carbonates and pliosphates 
of lime, and runs down to the bed rock. The tim- 
ber lands of Ray County do not materially differ 
from the prairie lands, except in the light measure 
of clay that is occasionally found above the loess 
deposits and the bed-rock formations. With the 
great fertility and peculiar composition of these 
soils comes a vei-satility of production and resource 
that is altogether remarkable. Everything grown 
from Northern Louisiana to the shores of Lake 
Superior, flourishes here. Wheat gives a reliable 
yield of fourteen to thirty bushels per acre, and 
flourishes on all soils, from the bottoms to the 
crown of the hills. Corn is the staple grain, and 
fully 2,500,000 bushels are annually grown here, the 
yield running all the way from forty to one hundred 
bushels per acre. As a corn country, Ray County 
will rank with the famous Nishna Vallej's, of Iowa, 
or the Sciota bottoms of Ohio. The yearly product 
of tobacco is 250,000 to 300,000 pounds. Oats, barley, 
and rye are as much at home here as anywhere on 
the green earth. Castor beans, hemp, flax, millet, 
hungarian, all the domestic grasses, all the fruita 
of the medium lutitudes, all the vegetables of gard- 
en and field, have a generous growth in this fertile, 
flexible and enduring soil. 

LAND PRICES. 

Good farms in the valleys, on the high prairies, or 
in the timbered districts, with good homes, out- 
buildings, fences, and orchards, sell at ten to thirty 
dollars per acre. Many a superior farm may be 
had for twenty dollars, and not infrequently a fine 
estate is offered for fifteen dollars per acre. Wild, 
wooded tracts ai'e selling at three to ten dollars per 
acre, and many of these tracts are well watered, 
and so abundant in blue grass pasture that for sheep 
and cattle ranges they could hardly be excelled. 
In the towns, commercial and residence jsroperties 
are selling at very reasonable rates. It is quite 
noteworthy, too, that good coal lauds are selling at 
the same scale of prices that govern average farm 
lands. 

RAILWAYS AND MARKETS. 

The Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway runs 
from east to west across the south half, and the St. 
Joseph & Lexington branch across the west half of 
the county, giving at least a half dozen local market 
places with railway facilities. Chicago, St. Louis and 
Kansas City, ai-e all brought within easy and quick 
comfnunication with this county. Kansas City, the 
best market town of the Missouri Valley, is within 
an hour's ride, and its wonderful commerce is al- 
ready having its influence upon real estate values 
for fifty miles around. 

TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

Richmond is the capital of Ray County. This 
thriving city has a poi)ulation of 2,500; is located 
on the St. Joseph & Lexington branch of the Wa- 
basli, St. Louis & I'acific Railwaj', about forty miles 
east of Kansiis City, in the midst of the coal fields of 
the county, and is surrounded by one of the richest 
and most attractive farm districts of Missouri. 

Ihirdin, Vibbard, Lawson, Millville, Knoxville 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



233 



Orrick, Albany, Henrietta, and Camden, are all 
thriving towns, of from 200 to 500 inhabitants, situ- 
ated in prosperous farm districts, with good com- 
mercial advantages. 

EDUCATIONAI-. 

The educational interests of tlie county liave 
been well attended to. Every district lias its 
public scliool, and at Richmond .is a graded scliool 
of most superior character. The sum annually 
expended for the purposes of free education in 
Ray County amounts to about $35,000. Many of the 



school buildings are new and substantial struc- 
tures. 

COUNTY FINANCES — THE PEOPLE. 

The valuation of the county's real estate and per- 
sonal property is $10,000,000. 

The total tax for State, county, and school pur- 
poses is $1.20 per $100. 

The people of Ray County are progressive and 
hospitable, and extend the hand of welcome to the 
industrious immigrants who may see fit to settle 
among them. 



KEYNOLDS COUNTY. 



Reynolds County is situated in the southeast part 
of the State ; is bounded on the north by Dent and 
Iron Counties ; east by Iron and Wayne ; south by 
Carter and Shannon, and Mest by Dent and 
Shannon Counties, and contains 494,379 acres. It is 
a comparatively new county, having been formed 
from some of the adjoining counties. It is only 
about one hundred miles south of St. Louis, the 
greatest city of the West, which now has a popula- 
tion of about 500,000 inhabitants, and affords one of 
the best markets in the United States. 

POPULATION. 

Although the county suffered severely during the 
late civil war, which almost depopulated it at one 
time, it has a population of over 5,000 inhabitants. 
The building of the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Rail- 
road in 1875, which passes near the eastern bound- 
ary of the county, has given a wonderful impetus to 
immigration and improvements of all kinds. 

SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS — SOILS. 

The surface of the country is somewhat irregular, 
rather hilly, interspersed with valleys of rich allu- 
vial soil. The soil is divided into bottom and up- 
lands — the former being a rich alluvial soil, while 
the uplands are of clay and clay subsoil, iiroducing 
all the vai-ieties of vegetation that grow in the bot- 
toms, birt not in such abundance. Along and near 
the rivers and principal streams, and iutermediate 
between the bottoms and table or uplands, the coun- 
try is rough and hilly. There is, however, scarcely 
any jjart of the county too rough for good pasturage 
-especially for sheep walks. 

STOCK HUSBANDRY AND CLIMATE, 

The winters are unusually short, and stock re- 
quires but little feeding, cattle in some portions of 
tlie county (except during very severe winters) 
wintering themselves on that supplied by nature. 
Hogs are often driven to market and butchered for 
home -consumption off of mast. Cattle, hogs, and 
sheep are I'aised for market to some extent. Blue 
grass, timothy, clover, red top, or herd grass, 
grow well, while the wild grasses afford exten- 
sive and excellent pasturage. There being no 
stock law in this State, cattle can roam at will over 
the hills. Wild mast consists of white, black, and 



post oak, hickory and walnut. For dairy purjjoses 
the county offers unexcelled facilities of climate, 
springs, streams, and wild pasturage ; yet, the ad- 
vantages have not been practicallr developed. 
There is but little prairie, most of the land being 
well timbered, and about one-flftieth of the county 
cultivated. 

FRUIT GROWING. , 

The untillable land is well adapted to pasturage, 
fruit, and vineyards, the entire county being well 
adapted to fruit and grapes, wild grapes growing in 
abundance all over the county. 

THE TIMBER SUPPLY. 

Timber of all kinds and in any quantity is found 
in all parts of the county, consisting principally of 
pine, oak, ash, hickory, walnut, sugar, maple and 
paw paw. 

M^ATER AND MILL-POWER. 

The county is weU watered by Black River, East 
INIiddle and West Fork and Logan's Creek, which 
traverses it from northwest to southeast. At the 
junction of East, Middle and West Fork of Black 
River a stream of considerable size is formed 
which flows along the eastern border of the county 
for many miles, winding in a zig-zag course across 
a broad valley, laying it off in lots suitable for 
farming purposes, many of which are occupied. 
The western portion of the county is watered by 
Lost Spring Creek, Bee Fork, and numerous fine, 
large springs and small creeks. Some of the 
streams in the county are large enough for ordinary 
rafting purposes, and afford, as do also many of the 
springs, good water-j^ower. 

PRODUCTIONS. 
The agricultural productions ars cars wheat 
oats, rye, potatoes and tobacco— the latter of a 
superior quality. 

MINERALS. 
The county Is rich In minerals, iron being found 
in all parts of the county. Lead, rich in silver, has 
also been found in the county. 

MANUFACTORIES. 
The manufacturing interests have received but 
little attention, and consist principally of a few 
flouring and saw mills. 



234 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



EDUCATIONAL, KELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL. 

The public school system is well developed ; about 
forty-live schools are now in operation, being sup- 
ported from a State fund and the proceeds of every 
sixteenth section, as well as by special taxation. 
The religious denominations are Methodist, Baptist, 
Christian, and a general sprinkling of other de- 
nominations. There are about thirty churches in 
the county. There is one Masonic lodge and hail 
in the county (at Logan's Creek), one Odd FeUo-ws' 
lodge and hall (at Lesterville). 

COUNTY FINANCES. 
State and county taxes in 1879 Tvere one dollar and 
forty cents on the one hundred dollars. Each dis- 



trict IcTies its o^yn school tax, which cannot exceed 
forty cents on the -one hundred dollars without a 
special vote. Keynolds County has no bonded in- 
debtedness of any kind. 

PRICE OF FARMS. 

Improved farms can be bought from three dollars 
to twenty dollars per I'xre. Unimproved lands can 
be purchased cheap. 

PRINCIPAL TOWNS. 

CentreviUe, the county seat, on the West Fork of 
Black River, is a thriving little town, eighteen miles 
from Ozark Mills, its usual railroad station. 

Lesterville and Logan's Creek Post-Offlce, are both 
growing places, and do a large business. 



RIPLEY COUNTY. 



Ripley County is situated in Southeast Missouri, 
on the ^Vi-kansas border, one hundred and sixty-eight 
miles south of St. Louis, seventy-flve miles west of 
the Mississippi River, and within ten miles of the 
St. Louil, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway. 
PHYSICAL FEATURES. 

The face of the county is diversified, the bottoms 
being level, while the uplands are gently undulating 
—only sufliciently rolling, in most places, to shed the 
water in wet seasons. Along and near the rivers 
and principal streams, and between the bottoms and 
table or uplands, the country is rough, hilly and 
rocky. There is, however, scarcely any part of the 
county so rough as not to afford good pasturage. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SOIL. 

The soil is divided into bottom and uplands ; the 
former being a rich, alluvial soil, conlined to the 
river and creek bottoms, and producing, in large 
quantities, all the cereals and vegetables that grow 
In this latitude, while the uplands are of clay and 
clay subsoil, producing the same variety of vegeta- 
tion, but not in same abundance. The uplands are 
better adapted to fruit-growing, especially grapes ; 
they are also susceptible of rapid improvement by 
the fertilizers, as the clay soils hold all the manure 
put iipon them. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

The winters are generally short, and stock re- 
quu-es but little feeding; in some portions of the 
county the stock passes the winter entirely on the 
supply of nature. Hogs are often driven to market, 
■well fattened on mast. 

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 

The average yield per acre of wheat is fifteen bush- 
els; corn, forty; oats, thirty-five ; rye, twenty; bar- 
ley, twenty- two ; potatoes, one hundred and twenty- 
five ; timotliy, one ton to the acre ; and clover, hun- 
garian and millet, two and one-half tons; tobacco, 
one thousand pounds, and cotton eight hundred 
pounds in the seed. 

Cattle, hogs and sheep are raised for market to 
some extent. Blue grass, timothy, clover, red-top 



or herd grass grow well for pasturage, while the 
wild grasses now afford extensive and excellent 
pasturage. Wild mast consists of white, black and 
post oak, hickory and walnut. For dairy puiposes' 
the county offers unexcelled facilities in climate, 
springs, sti'eams and wild pasturage, yet the advan- 
tages have not been practically developed. There 
is no prairie, all being timber, and about one-fiftieth, 
of the county cultivated. The untillable land is 
well adapted to pasturage, fruit and vineyards, the 
entire county being well adapted to fruit and grapes 
wild grapes growing all over the county. 

EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES AND RELIGIOUS 
ADVANTAGES . 

The public school system is well developed; about 
thirty-five schools are now in operation, being sup- 
ported from a State fund, and the proceeds of every 
sixteenth section, as well as by special taxation. 
The religious denominations are Methodist, Baptist, 
Catholic, Presl)yteriau and Christian, all of whom 
are well represented throughout the county. There 
are two or three Gi^ange societies, four Immigration 
societies, one Masonic lodge, and two newspapers — 
the " Prospect" and the " Xews" — ^both published at 
Doniphan, the county seat. • 

TAXATION AND POPULATION. 

State and county taxes for 1879, $1.40 on each $100. 
Each township levies its own school tax. 

The iiopulation is increasing, mainly from Ten- 
nessee, Kentucky, "New York, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana 
and Pennsylvania. The extension of the State Line 
Railroad proposes to pass through Ripley. The 
county is reasonably well supplied with mills, but 
there is room for many more. 

WATER-POWER, ETC. 

The county is exceedingly well supplied with 
everlasting water for small steamboats, rafting, the 
running of machinery, and for stock. 

Current River flows a northwest to southeast 

course through the countj-, a distance of thirty- five 

miles, and a clearer, more beautiful and rapid 

I stream cannot be found, never having been froien 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



235 



over, and affords an outlet to the Southern market 
all tlie year for flatboats and rafts. 

Little Black, another beautiful stream, not so 
large as Current River, rises in the southwestern 
portion and flows a south of east course a distance of 
twenty miles, then an east of south a distance of 
about fifteen miles, affording power now for three 
mills, and power for many more not utilized. 

Fourchee rises in the west, flows in a southeast 
of south course, and, with her tributaries, traverses 
about thirty-five miles, furnishing power now for 
three mills, and plenty of power not used. 

Current River has as tributaries on the west, Big 
and Little Barren, Buffalo, Compton, Wells, Briar, 
Mill and Glaize Creeks, also, two never-failing 
springs, one affording a fiftj^ horse -power, and the 
other a one hundred horse -power, within one -fourth 
of a mile of their soui-ce. These springs are about 
one-half mile west of the river, with quite a num- 
ber of spring branches. The eastern tributaries are 
Cedar, Colvin, Kelley, Isaac's, Bills, and Dudley; 
Cypress, Logan, and Han-is empty into Little Black. 
There is a goodly number of smaller streams and 
spring: branches. 



There are about one hundred and fifty miles of 
running and never-failing streams, and about the 
same amount of miles that afford stock-water over 
three -fourths of the year. 

MINERAL RESOURCES, 

lipley is known to contain large deposits of ii-on 
ore, and other minerals are believed to exist here. 

PRICE OF LAND, ETC. 

There are quite a number of improved farms for 
sale at three to eight dollars per acre, as well as 
large bodies of unimproved land at from two to five 
dollars per acre, and considerable Government and 
homestead lands. The St. Louis, Iron Mountain & 
Southern Railroad owns 11,000 acres of rich bottom 
land, at three to five dollars per acre. There are 
large bodies well adapted for the location of colo- 
nies. 

Doniphan, the county seat, is situated on Current 
River, eighteen miles from the railroad, and is a 
small but thriving town, containing a hotel, court 
house, jail, general stores, and several good church 
edifices of various denominations. 



ST. CHARLES COUNTY. 



This county, in early times extending, indefinitely, 
northwardly and westwai-dlj^ has finally been cut 
down to the limits of 511.57 square miles, equal to 
327,404 acres, and is bounded on the east and north by 
the Mississippi and Cuivre Rivei-s and Big Creek; on 
the south by the Missouri River, and west by Wiir- 
ren County — so that it may readily be seen that the 
iacilities for transportation to market by water are 
exceedingly favorable. Added to all these con- 
veniences, there is the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific 
Railwaj', and St. Louis & Keokuk Railroad, one run- 
ning centrally through the county, and the other 
more to its eastern side, thus affording a ready 
market lor grain and all kinds of produce at every 
landing on the three rivers, and also at every station 
on either of the railroads. 

MARKET FACILITIES. 

The city of St. Charles affords a fair and ready 
market for all kinds of produce, more especially 
■corn and wheat, in which trade her merchants ai-e 
aU alive and wide awake. Then there is Alton, 
iacross the Mississippi River, on the Illinois side, 
which is a live business city ; and should these 
marts fail the vender of grain, then just a step from 
the doors is the great market of the M^est — St. 
Louis. In short, the facilities for reaching market 
are equal, if not superior, to any county in the 
■State, it being only twenty miles to St. Louis by 
rock road- and raih'oad, and forty-five miles by 
water. 

SURFACE, CHARACTERISTICS AND PRO- 
DUCTIONS. 

About one-third of the county is prairie; one- 
third is cultivated, and the balance is in timber — 
much of it of large size aad flue quality. All kinds 



known to this latitude and climate thrive well, 
especially along the rivers and their tributaries. 
Burr oak, walnut, hickory, pecan, white oak, elm, 
cotton-wood, maple, sycamore, coffee-nut, wild 
cherry and black oak, may be named as the prin- 
cipal varieties. The county is intersected by 
numerous streams, the principal of which ai-e: 
Dardenne, Cuivre and Femme Osage Creeks, with 
their numerous tributaries. 

The lands in the west and southwestern part of 
the county are, in many places, very broken; the 
upland, comparatively thin, producing good pastur- 
age; but all of the valleys are rich, and veryjji-o- 
ductive. 

Further east, the lands improve, and produce gooi 
average crops of corn, oats and tobacco; wheat 
does not do so well. Apples and peaches are pro- 
duced abundantly, and of fine flavor. The land 
through this hilly or upland i-egion has a shallower 
soil, underlaid with a red clay, impregnated with 
iron, and is easily improved by use of fertilizers. 

By opening a pair cf dividers, :ind plsciag one leg 
upon the court house and pointing the other to the 
extent of from twelve to fifteen miles, and sweeping 
a circle from the Missouri to the Mississippi river, 
and from this curved line down to the moutii of tiie 
Missouri river, these lauds are of tlie very finest 
quality for corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley, and all 
kinds of vegetation; the Point and river prairies 
being of a very deep alluvial soil, which has stood 
heavy cropping for nearly or quite one hundred 
years, and still produce, as in its virgin days — no 
wear, no tire. Within these encircled limits, the 
uplands produce prime articles of wheat, corn and 
other products, and these hills, valleys and prairie 
lands have made this the banner county for corn 
and wheat, the corn being celebrated as the " St. 



236 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



Charles AYhite" iiud so quoted, and sold in market 
at from five to six cents per bushel, in advance of 
mixed and otlier grades. From two to three million 
bushels are produced in the county. 

The grain merchants claim, also, that St. Charles 
is tlie banner county for wheat, and that it will out- 
grade any other county in this cereal. AVlieat in this 
region will produce from fifteen to forty-five bushels 
per acre, and is often quoted specially as St. Charles 
wheat. Corn, from forty to one hundred bushels in 
the rich lands, and in more hilly from fifteen to forty 
bushels per acre. The yield, in the county, of wheat, 
is estimated at one and a half million bushels 
annually. Not much rye is raised in this county, 
but the soil and climate produce a berry equal to 
any raised East or West. Fine crops of barley have 
been raised, but other crops have superseded it. 
Hemp has done well, when cultivated. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

This is a good stock county, but more attention is 
paid to cereals. There are in the county, horses, 
5,706, worth $156,500; cattle, 12,317, worth $106,636; 
mules, 2,966, worth $98,159; asses aud jennets, 24, 
worth $650; sheep, 5,413, worth $6,067; hogs, 32,673, 
worth $50,071. 

OTHER VALUATIONS. 

The real estate is valued at $5,158,624 ; grand total 
of personal property, $1,657,716, making the value of 
property in tlie county by the Assessor's books, 
w^hich is always under value, equal to $6,816,340. 

THE MANUFACTURING INTERESTS. 

There are several branches of manufactories in St. 
Charles, such as planing and furniture mills, 
woolen and yarn factories, saddlery shops and 
stores, stove and tin shops, lumber yards, etc. 

There are six merchant mills in St. Charles, four 
of which are in operation; also, one in "Wentzville, 
one in O'Fallon, two at St. Peter's, one at Hamburg, 
and one at New Melle. These mills make the best 
brands of flour, and ship off large (juantities, the 
flour being <as celebrated as the wheat and corn of 
the count}'. 

The streets, stores, dwellings and churches are 
thoroughly lighted by gas. The St. C^harles Car 
Manufacturing Companj- — capital stock paid up 
$110,000 — employ above three liundrcd hands, and 
pay out monthly for labor $10,000. The capacity of 
the works is from eight to ten cars per day, freight 
cars only being manufactured. These works turn 
out a very superior car Miieel, and many arc sold to 
roads in differeilt parts of the country. It is a 
growing institution. There are three weekly papers 
published in St. Chai-les, and, indeed, altogether, 
the city puts on quite stylish airs. St. Charles is 
well situated for manufacturing purposes. Along 
the bank of the Missouri River, water is right at 
hand, and there is room for extensive works. 

EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS. 

The educational facilities are equal to any county 
in the State outside of St. Louis. There are in the 
county from seventy-five to eighty schools, four of 
which are for colored children. In the city there 
are three public schools, one of whicli is for colored 



children. There are a number of private schools 
throughout the city and county. Tliere are also 
schools of a professed higher order — the St. Charles 
College, in' charge of the Methodists, with a com- 
petent corps of professors ; tlie Convent of the 
Sacred Heart, whicli is in charge of the Catliolics; 
the Lindenwood Female College, witli a full corps 
of teachers. This institution is situated in a, linden 
grove, on high and beautiful rolling lands, and 
affords a magnificent view over many miles of the 
surrounding country; then Woodlawn Seminary, 
for young ladies, near the town of O'Fallon. 

Churches, with the accompanying Sabbath- 
schools, abound in both city and county, there 
being ten in the city, besides two colored ones. 
And so equal, also, is the distribution through the 
county, as to churches and schools, tliat the immi- 
grant in this regard would be at home. 

HEALTH. 

St. Charles is as liealtliy as any county in the State ; 
as many gray-haired, active, robust men can be seen 
here as in any place of the same size. 

rOPULATION STATISTICS. 

Tlie city of St. Charles has a population of 6,000 
inhabitants, and is improving gradually and sub- 
stantially. There are in successful and thriving 
operation in tlie city, three banks, witli a liberal 
amount of capital paid up. 

The county has a population of about 25,000, com- 
posed of as suljstantial and orderly people as can 
be found in the Union of these States. 

FRUIT AND GRAPE CULTl'RE. 

The fruits are unsurpassed in quantity of yield 
and quality of flavor. ^AJmost every farmer has his 
apple orchard, pea(;hes, pears, grapes and smaller 
fruits. Tliere are in the county about four hundred 
acres in viney.irds, in every favorable season yielding 
abundant crops of delicious fruit. Many varieties 
have been cultivated, but the Concord seems to have 
taken the lead of most other varieties. There are a 
number of large wine cellars, containing every 
necessary convenience in their an-angements for 
the making and storing of wine. 

St. Charles County is well known in the West for 
its abundant apple crop and pure cider. Orchards 
abound throughout the county, and a number of 
them very large and remunerative. As an example : 
One orchard of eighty acres, in the Point prairie, 
yielded between seven and eight thousand barrels, 
which were shipped to different points in the West; 
the owner has twenty acres in crab-apples, from 
which was made four or five hundred barrels of as 
fine cider as ever sparkled in a wine glass. In short, 
the county produces every variety of fruit and veg- 
etables — to perfection — that can be raised in the 
Western States. 

FINANCIAL MATTERS. 

The county debt is only $32,000. The city debt is 
only $31,000. The State ta.K is only forty cents on 
the one hundred dollars; county tax, forty (sents; 
sinking fund, twenty cents; school fund, ten to 
forty cents. Tlie city tax is three-fourths of one 
per cent, on the one hundred dollars — fifty centa 
general tax and twenty-five cents for sinking fund. 



Hand-Book op Missouri. 



237 



ST. CLAIR COUNTY. 



St. Clair County is situated in the northwest part 
of that section of the State known as Sou tli west 
Missouri, and is in the second tier of counties east 
of the Kansas line. In area it contains 097.14 square 
miles, making about 446,171 acres. On the assessor's 
books, for 1879, there arc 418,871.72 acres, valued at 
$1,294,410, and 2,392 town lots, valued at $140,025. 
The county was first explored in 1827, by Jacob 
Coonce. But little immigration came here and 
located until a dozen years later, and the county 
was not organized until 1841. During the late civil 
war, St. Clair County was laid in waste, and almost 
depopulated — hence, its settlement and gro\yth in 
fact dates back but fifteen years. At present it has 
a ijopulation of about 15,000, made up mainly of 
farmers and stock-raisers. 



TOPOGRAPHY 



OF THE COUNTY 
CLIMATE. 



THE 



The county is broken and hilly east and south of 
the Osage and Sac Rivers — beautiful valleys and 
fertile prairies being numerously intermingled with 
the timbered uplands. West of Sac River and north 
of the Osage, the rough country adjacent to these 
streams is quickly lost in the magnificent prairies 
■which, unljroken, stretch far away hundreds of 
mUes into Kansas. The climate is salubrious. In 
■winter severe weather is of short duration, and, in 
the sheltered i-anges, stock frequently go all season 
without feed, owing to the nutritious gi-ass which 
cover the uncultivated portion of the county, among 
which blue grass is a prominent factor. July and 
August are usually hot during the day, but sultry 
nights are rare; and, in the warmest periods of 
weather, heavy and refreshing dew , rarely fail to 
fall during the evenings. 

STREAMS AND SPRINGS. 

The Osage River enters the county about the 
center of the western border. Its course, gener- 
ally, is east, until near the center of the county; 
thence the stream runs northeast, for some eight 
miles, when its course changes to due north to 
within a mUe of the nothern edge of the county. 
Here it runs east, south and north, and again re- 
peats its serpentine twistings, after which it leaves 
Ihe county at the northeast corner. Tlie Osage is 
navigable for small boats throughout the entire 
length embraced in St. Clair. During its wander- 
ings in the limits of the county it attains a length 
of sixty miles or more, thus watering a large ai-ea 
of country, and affording unlimited water-power 
for manufactories, mills, etc. 

Sac River, next to the Osage in size and import- 
ance, enters the county midway on the southern 
border, and its general course is east of southeast, 
forming a junction with the Osage near the center 
and three miles above Osceola. It waters the 
country for a distan(;e of twenty-live miles, and 
Affords excellent water-power for machinery. 

A large number of other small streams traverse 
the county in various directions, and, together with 
unmerous sx)rings, guarantee the farmer against 



the danger of drouth. St. Clair is likewise blessed 
with several line sulphur springs of well-merited 
remedial virtues. 

TIMBER RESOURCES. 
That portion of the county east of the Osage River 
is principally covered with timber. A strip of hea-vy 
timber extends out from tlie river several miles, 
aloug the western side, while Little Monegaw Creek 
runs through a wooded country extending far 
toward the northwest co]-ner of the county. Of the 
useful varieties of wood thei-e are thousands of 
acres of heavy walnut, burr oak, and ash, in the 
bottoms, along the streams, and in the ridges or 
uplands, jiost oak and white oak. There is also an 
abundance of the different kinds of hickory, maple, 
hackberry, willow, elm, black oak, and red oak. 
Cedar covers the bluffs, and paw-paw, sugar, maple, 
cherry, and other varieties of trees, grow in smaller 
areas. The walnut timber is already being utilized, 
thousands of logs being rafted annually to the fur- 
niture manufactories of Indiana Of the qualities 
of the timbers used in wagons, etc., it is only neces- 
sary to state that the home manufacturers say that 
they never have to repair a broken axle in veliicles 
made of native limbers. The abundance of timber 
is of great value to those locating in a new country, 
who design building and fencing; and St. Clair 
County possesses an almost inexhaustible supply^ 
and that of the best quality. 

BUILDING STONE. 

The county is abundantly supplied with the finest 
building stone, some of which is susceptible of the 
polish of marble. Superior limestone is procurable 
in almost etery locality, suitable for building pur- 
poses or burning into lime. Sandstone quarries 
exist everywhere. Sand abounds in the beds of the 
rivers and creeks. 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 

The State of Missouri is rich in mineral resources, 
such as lead and iron, and embraced in the borders 
of St. Clair is her full share of these natural sources 
of wealth. Lead has been discovered in various 
localities in the county, but none of the deposits 
developed. The high ridges, deemed absolutely 
worthless by the agriculturalist, save for grazing 
puii)oses, contain vast deposits of iron ore, only 
needing capital to enrich the owners. The various 
kinds of iron ore can be found commingling in the 
same bed — the brown, blue, and yellow hematite — 
while the soft red hematite abounds everywhere. 

Coal, of a superior quality and in inexhaustible 
supply, can be found in any portion of the county 
lying north of the Osage Rivei-. 

FERTILITY OF THE SOIL. 

Containing so many water-courses, and these 
streahis bordered by very wide bottoms, a very 
large per cent, of the land of St. Clair County is 
uneqnaled in fertility. The timbered land is a 
dark loam, black alluvium in the bottoms, and black 
vegetable mould upon the pi-airies. The tillable 



238 



Hand-Book of Missouhi. 



And is very productive, and good crops are raised 
by the farmers, notwithstanding the fact that no 
special efforts are made to maintain the natural 
richness of the soil. In the bottoms, along the 
streams, the yield is fabulous. With proper culti- 
vation crops are seldom a total failure from drouth. 

PRODUCTION OF GRAIN. 

Tlie staple products are wheat and corn, both of 
which yield largely and And ready market. The 
yield of Wheat will average from twenty to twenty- 
jive bushels per acre, and of corn thirty-live to 
forty-five bushels. Witli tliorough cultivation farm- 
ers frequently excel these figures, and many of the 
bottom farms will produce sixty to seventy bushels 
of corn per aci-e. Oats, rye, flax, barley, broom 
corn, sorghum, buclrsvheat, and hemp yield well. 

Tlie soil is especially adapted in many places to 
the production of tobacco, and the quality is supe- 
rior. However, the tobacco law restricts its culti- 
vation to any extent beyond the wants of the raiser. 

In fact there is nothing indigenous to this lati- 
tude that cannot be grown successfully and profit- 
ably in St. Clair County soU. 

A GRASS-GROWING COUNTRY. 

Of the tame grasses, timothy, red-top, millet, hnn- 
garian and clover, are the kinds mostly cultivated, 
and all yield well — timothy from two to three tons, 
and millet five to six tons per acre. Upon the wild 
lands grass grows spontaneously and luxuriantly, 
affording splendid range for stock. Blue grass is 
fast conquering the wild grasses upon the ranges, 
and has as fine growth here as in the far-famed 
blue grass regions of Kentucky, and there is not a 
single element of the stock country wanting- in the 
climate, grasses, water siipply, atmosphere, soil and 
position of St. Clair County. The water supply, 
natural shelter of the densely wooded valleys and 
ravines, the marvelous growth of wild and domestic 
o:rasses, the immense corn cribs filled to repletion, 
J;he mild open winters, in which grazing rarely fails 
'or moi-e than sixty or eighty days, and the unac- 
countable cheap lands make a superior stock coun- 
try of this. For cattle, slieep and swine husbandry 
'.t has no superior in America. Even the stony, 
flint ridges are covered with a magnificent growth 
)f wild grass. These hills being unlit for cultiva- 
)n, will always give ample stock range. Then, 
■ here is no part of St. Clair in which stock water is 
not abundant, and t^e supply never failing. Half 
•^he hogs fattened in the county never ate an ear of 
corn, their sole feed having been the " mast " which 
«rows profusely upon the uncultivated portions of 
•le county— hickory nuts, liazel nuts, acorns, etc. 
Sheep-raising, by reason of the high prices paid 
for wool, constitutes an important factor in farm- 
ing. This county offers this industry many and 
vast advantages, the principal cost being in secur- 
ing a herd for a start and providing for its shelter. 
Following is an abstract of the number of stock 
in the coiinty, August 1st, 1879, as shown by the 
Assessor's books: 

Horses 6,502 

Mules I,ai3 

Asses and jennets 40 

Neat cattle 25,121 

Sheep 15,766 

Hogs 30,786 



AS A FRUIT COUNTRY 

St. Clair will rank with any section of the State. 
Apples, peaclies, pears, cherries, plums, and the 
smaller fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, 
blackberries, etc., t)irive well with the proper 
cultivation, and wild grapes are abundant. Culti- 
vated grapes yield profusely. 

RAILROADS AND NAVIGATION. 

The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway crosses 
the northwest corner of the county. The road-bed 
of the Kansas City, Memphis & Mobile has been 
graded as far as Osceola, and, the property having 
been piirchased by Boston capitalists, there are 
hopes of its completion in the near future. 

The Osage River is navigable five months in the 
year as far up as Osceola, and boats run as high as 
Taberville, by water, thirty miles above. There are 
prosi^ects of securing a large appi-opriation from 
the National Government for tlie improvement ol 
this stream, which, if made, will give the farmer the 
advantage of cheai) transportation to niarket for his 
produce. As it now is, much could be saved to the 
producer by floating his grain to the mouth of the 
Osage, by means of flat boats. 

SCHOOL FACILITIES. 

St. Clair County is divided into ninety- six school 
districts, has five thousand school children, and few 
of the districts are without neat, commodious 
frame buUdings. In the rural districts, school is 
taught during the winter season, and many of them, 
also have a summer session. Besides several thou- 
sand doUars received annually from the State, the 
county has an abundant school fund. So far as 
schools are concerned the county is amply supplied, 
yet the facilities for obtaining an education are daily 
I gi-owing greater. 

CHURCHES AND MORALS. 

; Much attention is given by the people to the spread 

' of the teachings of Christianity, and cburches and 

I Sunday-schools abound in iill the different localities 

where the settlements are suflicieutly near to each 

other to maintain an organization. Temperance 

\ societies are numerous, and there is not a licensed 

> saloon in St. Clair County, nor has there been for 

nearly a year. 

There are also several floui-isliing Grange organi- 

' zations in the county. 

HEALTHFULNESS. 

None of the fatal contagious diseases ever reach 
, here and the pure air of our beautiful prairies, eleva- 
ted table-lands and pleasant vaUeys i-ender the 
death rate very small. 

TAXABLE WEALTH. 

Erom the Assessor's book the value of property 
in the county is as follows : 

j Value of real estate $1,434,4;>5 

I Value of personal i^roperty 954,389 

: Total valuation $2,388,824 

' The total value of property in 1878 M-as $2,091,486, 

• showing an increase in the wealth of the county in 

i 1879 of two hundred and ninety-seven thousand 

■ three hundred and thirty-eight dollars. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



239 



PRINCIPAL TOWNS, 

Osceola, the county seat of St. Clair, and the 
oldest town in the county, is situated upon an eligible 
site on the southern bank of the Osage River, a 
little east of the center of the county. The river 
affords ample water-power for mills. 

The town was totally destroyed in 1861, but at the 
close of the war rebuilding began, and, notwith- 
standing railroads have encroached upon its ante- 
bellum trade, it is now a thriving town of 500 inhab- 
itants, and possesses a splendid trade. It has a fine 
brick court house, brick jail, brick church, and 
several splendid brick business houses. 

Appleton City is situated in the extreme north- 
west corner of tlie county, equally distant from 
Henry and Bates, and is the only railroad town on its 
borders. Surrounded by a magniticent farming and 
stock country, Appleton has quickly grown to a 
young city with a population of 1,500, and contains 
about seventy-five business establishments, mainly 
conti-olled by men of energy and capital. 

The otlier towns of the county are Roscoe, Taber- 
ville, Johnson City, Lowry City and Chalk Level, 



all flourishing villages. There are also a number of 
post-office stations »t different points. 

MILLING FACILITIES. 

There are about fifteen flouring and saw mills 
located in the different portions of the county, and 
room for many more to do well. 

PRICES OF LANDS. 

AVliile lands are yet cheap, considering the qual- 
ity, this state of tilings will not be lasting. Withia 
the past six montlis the prices of real estate haye 
advanced at least twenty-five per cent., and are 
constantly on the increase. Following are the 
present average figures at which land can be 
bought: Unimpi-oved prairie, from tlirce doUars 
to ten dollars i)er acre ; improved land, from ten 
to forty dollars per acre ; unimproved timber, fronx 
one dollar and twenty-five cents to ten dollars per 
acre; improved bottom land, from ten dollars to 
thirty-five dollars per acre; average unimproved 
land, five dollars per acre ; average improred land, 
fifteen doUars per acre. 



ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY. 



St. Francois is tlie second county directly south of 
St. Louis, and Farmington, the county seat, is seven- 
ty-five miles distant therefrom by county road, and 
eighty-six miles by railroad. It is bounded on the 
north by Jefferson ; on tlie east by Ste. Genevieve and 
Peny; on the south by Madison and Iron, and on 
the west by Iron and Washington Counties, and 
contains about 450 square miles, or 380,500 acres. 

SOILS — TOPOGRAPHY — PRODUCTION, 

The 75,000 acres of land which are in cultivation, 
produce most excellent ci'ops of all cei-eals and 
grasses, as is shown by the general average of ship- 
ments and tlie amount consumed by employes of 
the large mines and manufactories ; wliile for fruits 
of all kinds adapted to this climate it cannot be ex- 
celled by any county in the State. Tlie general sur- 
face of the county is undulating. The extreme 
soutliern and southwestern portions are table lauds 
excellently adapted to fruit culture and grazing 
purposes. The extreme northern portion, along the 
line of Jefferson County, consists of ridge lands 
and narrow valleys of dark mulatto soil, and par- 
ticularly adapted for grape culture and grazing, and 
produces most excellent M'lieat, and, withal, has 
very fine timber and inexhaustible mineral wealth, 
portions of it having been mined for over sixty 
years, and are still being extensively mined. The 
other portions of the county are particularly 
adapted to agriculture, and all are well supplied 
witli water from never-failing springs, and drained 
by P.lackwell, Kock, Wolf, Black, Indian, Davis, Big 
Brancii, Owl, Doe Run, and Hazel Run Creeks, St. 
Francois River, Terre Bleue, Big River and Three 
Rivers, streams wliicli afford plenty of water the 
year round, ottering unlimited facilities for driving 



machinery. The valleys along these streams art 
remarkably pi-oductive, yielding all kinds of grain, 
grasses and fruits, which richly reward tlie hus- 
bandman for his labor, while the uplands and 
divides make returns but little short of tlie valleys, 
and in which most generally are found fine indica- 
tions and specimens of minerals with which the 
county especially abounds. 

Blue grass seems indigenous to the soil, ancf for 
timothy, herds' grass, orcliard grass and clover, the 
county cannot be excelled. Tobacco has been 
raised to advantage, in fact, made quite profitable, 
yielding from 400 to 1,000 pounds, of a very excellent 
quality, to the acre. 

TIMBER SUPPLY. 

This county has no prairie worth mentioning, but 
is generally heavily timbered, and sufficiently plenty 
to insure no trouble on that account for a great 
many years, consisting of black and white walnut, 
white, black, and shell bark hickories, sugar and 
common maple, hackberry, ash, chincapin, wild 
cherry, sycamore, white and red elm, and all the 
different species of oak common to this latitude; 
also, red bud,,pawpaw, sassafras, birch, mulberry, 
persimmon, box elder, liazel, plum, sumach and 
dogwood, with some fine cedar and pine ou tlie 
more rugged hills, with a large stock of small fruits, 
such as wild gooseberries, blackberries, raspberries, 
whortleberries, summer and fall grapes, furnishing 
a luxury for the epicurean at tlie small expense of 
gathering. For wagon and stave timber and farm 
machinery the hickories, oaks and ash are in al- 
most inexhaustible quantities, and find cheap trans- 
portation to and a ready and profitable market in 
St. Louis; and especially is the hickory timber 



240 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



sought for in the St. Louis market and claimed by 
wagon manufacturers hpre, and there, to be equally 
as good, if not better, than that of the Genessee 
valley of New York. The land produces, generally, 
all kinds of timber, from twenty to fifty cords of 
wood to the acre. 

CLIMATE. 

Situated in the southeastern portion of the State, 
St. Francois County is not subject to the extremes 
of heat and cold, and on account of the high eleva- 
tion, the atmosphere is pure and dry. During tlie 
summer seasons, pleasant breezes prevail night and 
day, and the nights are seldom too warm for sleep. 

MINERAL KESOURCES. 

The mineral resources are unsuin>assed by any in 
the State of Missouri, and embrace neai-ly two- 
thirds of the county. Iron and lead are the principal 
minerals. In fact, the combination of minerals and 
agricultural lands in this county is wonderful. 
Zinc, nickel, barytes and micacious iron are found in 
paying quantities, with traces of silver, copper and 
cobalt. That celebi-ated formation known as Iron 
Mountain is within the limits of this county, near 
the town of the same name. This mountain, one of 
the largest and richest iron deposits in the world, 
two hundred and twenty-eight feet in height, 
covers an area of five hundi-ed acres, and furnishes 
employment in its various mining departments to 
about eight hundred men. 

The famous' St. Joseph and the Desloge lead mines 
are situated in this county. The former have seven 
shafts, from eight to one hundred and twenty-five 
feet deep. They have been in successful operation 
about twenty years. Tlie Desloge company have 
been in operation about four years, and possess four 
shafts. 

• Coke and wood are used for smelting purposes. 
The coke is brought from St. Louis, and the wood is 
fuftiished from the abundant forests nearby. These 
two companies also own a narrow gauge railroad, 
which connects the mines with the main line. 

There are a large number of other paying mining 
enterprises, of which want of space will not permit 
detailed mention. 

In the southern part of the county is aline deposit 
of granite, gray and red, and several building stone 
companies are operating the quarries to advantage. 

FRUIT CULTURE. 

The climate and soil of St. Francois County are 
well adapted to fruit raising. The farmers have, in 
the last few years, turned their attention to the 
production of fruits of all kinds. Apples, pears, 
peaches, and small fruit of every description, grow 
in great abundance. The i)lum also does exceed- 
ingly well here. Apples, both early and late varie- 
ties, are raised in the richest profusion, the trees 
every year being loaded with the juicy product. 
The peach also flourishes, the trees almost yearly 
being weighted down Avith their deli(!ious freight. 
This can also be called a fine grape -growing county. 
The vines are healthy and grow vigorously, and are 
yearly covered with large bunches of luscious 
grapes. Berries of every variety grow in profusion, 
and possess the finest flavor. The sujiply of fruit as 
yet does not equal the demand. Of laic years ex- 
tensive young orchards have been i)lanted. St. 



Louis affords an excellent market for tlie surislus of 
fruit of every description that may be produced. 
The county is far enough south for the fruit to 
become ripe and ready for market early in the 
season, and is near enough to St. Louis to be shipped 
at little cost and short notice. The same latitudes 
of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, cannot compete with 
this portion of the State in the pi-oduction of early 
fruit. By giving the proper attention to fruit-raising 
in this coun*-}', the business can be made quite re- 
munerative. 

EDUCATION. 

St. Francois County is making rapid improvement 
in the grade, character and number of her schools, 
each township being well organized, and hav- 
ing twenty school townships, with sixty-one sub- 
districts, and sixty-four or sixty-five public schools ; 
none having a shorter term than four months, the 
shortest term permitted by law, while many of 
them are continued from five to ten months. The 
old log pens, with puncheon floors and backless 
benche*s of the same material, have given place to 
nice, tasty frame, brick and stone buildings, fur- 
nished with all modern improvements and attrac- 
tions, while the place of those who formerly "kept 
school and boarded around " is supplied by live, 
energetic teachers, who make it a profession and 
study. The county school fund is nearly $30,000, 
which is loaned out at eight per cent, interest, 
which, with the State school moneys, distributed 
annually, and an average of twenty- five cents on 
the one hundred dollars school tax, afford us good 
schools for the term above mentioned. In many of 
the districts, when the school closes, there are pri- 
vate schools, usually taught from three to four 
months. There are now three jmblic schools in the 
county for the education of colored children. In 
addition to the public schools of the county, there 
was organized, in April, 1854, and chartered by the 
Legislature in March, 1859, ivhat is known as the 
Carleton Institute, now successfully conducted, and 
giving an impetus to education that will be felt for 
many long years. 

RELIGION. 

There are now erected thirty-two church edifices, 
with several under construction in the county, 
occupied by the various denominations, known as 
Methodist Episcopal Clmrch, Methodist Episcopal 
Church (South), Christian, Presbyterian, German 
Methodist, German Evangelical, Lutheran, Catholic, 
Cumberland Presbyterian, Missionary Baptist, Con- 
gregationalist, and Methodist Episcopal Church 
(colored), among which there exist the kindest 
fraternal feelings, many of them often worshipj)ing 
in the same chin-ch building, and frequently con- 
ducting protracted meetings together. The kindest 
social feelings prevail among the people, everyone 
enjoying with undisturbed quietude " the dictates 
of his own conscience." 

LODGES. 

In addition to the kind, Christian feelings from 
chui'ch associations, the bonds of friendship and 
society are increased and cemented by the follow- 
ing brotherhoods: Four lodges I. O. O. F., four 
lodges A. F. & A. M., one lodge Knights of Pythias, 
one lodge Knights of Honor, two lodges A. O. U. 
^V., three lodges of Good Templars, one Total \b- 



Hand-Book of IV^issouri. 



241 



stinence Society, and one lodge colored Masons, all 
of which are rapidly increasing and working har- 
moniously. 

PRINCIPAL, TOWNS. 

Farmington, the county seat, is situated near the 
center of a large valley of very productive land. It 
was laid out in 1822, and now contains a population 
of about 1,200 inhabitants, and is a city of the fourth 
class. The town affords a good market for all 
kinds of produce, and at prices equal to St. Louis. 
The merchants of the town have of late years be- 
come quite enterprising, and 'buy and ship all the 
products olfered for sale by the enteiin-ising farmers 
of the surrounding country. Within tlie city limits 
are seven churches — Presbyterian, Methodist, Epis- 
copal Church (South), Christian, Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, Catholic, German Evangelical, Luth- 
eran and Methodist Episcopal Church (colored). 
The town enjoys fine educational advantages. 
There are two public schools, which are kept in 
successful oiieration during seven mouths in the 
year, the one for wliite children and the other for 
colored children. When the public schools are not 
in operation, tlieir place is supplied by two private 
schools of a high character. For the use of the 
transient public, there is one good hotel and several 
commodious boarding-houses. The business in- 
terests of the town are represented by twelve stores. 
The business men of the town, -many of whom are 
engaged in the manufacturing business, rank among 
the most enterprising and thrifty in the West. There 
are also two weekly newspapers, the Farmington 
" Times " and the " Reveille."' 

The other towns of the county are : Iron Mountain, 
population, 2,000.; Loughborough, Blackwell Station, 
Valle's Mines, Hazel Run, French Village, Knob 
Lick, Libertyville, Middlebrook, Valle Forge, Stone, 
Fairview, Bismark, DeLassus, Big River Mills, be- 
sides several post-office stations, where general 
stores may always be found. 

TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES. 

The facilities for transportation are quite good. 
There are fifty miles of raih-oad in the countj-. The 
main line of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & South- 
ern Railway runs through the northern and western 
portions of the county, and the Belmont Branch of 



the same railroad extends through the central and 
southwestern portions ofthe county. There is also 
a narrow gauge raih'oad in operation from a point 
on the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway, 
near Mineral Point, to the prosperous mining towns 
of St. Joe and Desloge, a distance of thirteen miles. 
There is also a gravel road running through the 
central portion of the county, from the Ste. Gene- 
vieve line, by the way of Farmington, to Iron 
Mountain. The above gravel road, together with 
the numerous public highways, afford all the neces- 
sary facilities for transporting exjiorts and imports 
to and from the railroad. 

CROP AVERAGE. 

The following will be found to be about a general 
average of the crops in this county: 

Wheat, about fifteen bushels per acre ; corn, from 
thirty to fifty bushels per acre; oats, from thirty 
to forty bushels per acre; rye, from twenty to 
twenty- five bushels per acre; barley, from twenty- 
five to fifty bushels per acre; timothy, from one to 
two tons per aci-e; tobacco, from four hundred to 
one thousand pounds per acre, and of a very fine 
quality. 

Sorghum also does well and is largely planted. 
Potatoes and all root crops make remarkable yields, 
and for grasses, the soQ cannot be excelled. The 
acreage of wheat sown last fall was greatly increased 
over any former year, being now about twenty thou - 
sand acres. 

MILLS, ETC. 

In addition to the various manufacturing estab- 
lishments and lead mines mentioned, there are in 
the county nine first-class steam power flouring 
mills, three water power flouring mills, one steam 
power planing mill, one steam power saw mill, 
and several of the flouring mills have saw mills at- 
tached. 

FINANCIAL CONDITION. 

The taxes ai-e very low, being only about .?1.15 on 
the one hundred dollars for all pui-poses, except 
road, it generally being paid in labor; the county 
has no bonded indebtedness, in fact, no indebted- 
ness of any kind; warrants are cash, and there are 
nearly eight thousand dollars in the county treasury 
belonging to the contingent fund. 



STE. GENEVIEVE COUNTY; 



ste. Genevieve County is one of the tier of coun- 
ties forming the eastern boundary of the State. It 
is washed all along its eastern line by the Missis- 
sippi River, and is the most eastern of the second 
tier below St. Louis County. It is traversed by 
numerous streams of pui-e, never-failing, limpid 
water, and is dotted with springs as clear as crystal. 
Its climate is salubrious and temperate, and free 
from miasmatic influences or any of those blight- 
ing agencies, witli which other feitile regions are 
•ursed. 

Its population, in 1870, was 8,384, which, during 
the short space of six years has increased, without 



any perceptible aid from foreign immigration, to 
nearly 10,000. 

TOPOGRAPHY AND SOIL CHARACTERISTICS. 

The area of the county embraces about 461 square 
miles, or 297,399 acres, about one-third of which is 
under cultivation. Of the remainder, more than 
one-half is excellent farming lands, and could be 
brought into a high state of tillage by proper exer- 
tions. Much of the waste lands of the hills and 
barrens f ui-nish in a state of nature abundant foi-age 
for cattle, sheep, hogs and every species of domestic 
animals. From the middle of March until the open 



242 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



ing of winter, the exclusive dependence of the 
farmer for pasture for his stock is the " range," and 
it is no uncommon spectacle to find by the first of 
June, half-starved cattle of early spring as sleek, 
fat and handsome in appearance, as the stall-fed 
and pastured beeves of tlic eastern farmer, and all 
this solely from the pickings of the range. 

Forests of oak cover the hills and the range, and 
supply an abundance of mast for hogs. Many 
farmers, who, by the way, do not deserve the title, 
rely solely upon range and mast for feed for their 
stock, and very fair beef and pork are produced from 
these two agencies alone. 

The surface of the soil, away from the Mississippi 
River, is rolling, and in some parts broken into hills 
of considerable lieight, forming valleys of great 
fertility, through which flow either a never-failing 
spring or a water- course of more considerable pre- 
tensions. 

The soil comprising the bottoms of the River aux 
Vases and Junca is not so good as that of the others, 
partaking more of the drift formation— sandy, and 
not as retentive of moisture, nor so fertile, as the 
alluvial soil of the Establishment, Saline, and other 
creeks. The drift soil is quite fertile, hoM'ever, and 
produces good crops of cereal.*, grasses, .sweet pota- 
toes, and other ordinary farm crops. 

Many acres of this soil yet remain under the con- 
trol of the virgin forests, awaiting the axe of the 
husbandman. 

Whilst the hillsides and bluffs boi-dering these 
Streams are rocky— in many places precipitous, and 
too steep for cultivation— they are covered with ex- 
cellent timber, and the ridges are, many of them. 
Wide and of good upland soil. 

These uplands constitute some of the finest farms 
in the county, and yield fair crops of Indian corn, 
abundant harvests of oats, wheat, barley, and 
grass, and produce fruits of all kinds in profusion. 

THE PRINCIPAL PRODUCTS 

of the county are Indian corn, wheat, oats, barley, 
rye, tobacco, timothy, and clover hay. Wheat is the 
staple crop, and has been for a number of years the 
sole reliance of many farmers. It is estimated that 
the yield of wheat the past season in this county, 
was 500,000 bushels . Oats, rye, barley, and tobacco, 
have not, as a rule, been cultivated to any great ex- 
tent for exportation. They have, except tobacco, 
been looked upon mei-ely as adjuncts to the stock- 
yard, and the crops are in most instances consumed 
xipon the grower's premises. 

The little tobacco raised has not been much 
more than was used by the producers. This could 
be made the staple and most profitable crop. 

The soil and climate of the uplands are favorable 
to fruit-raising; although the number of large 
orchards of choice fruits are yet few. Apples and 
peaches are an important factor in the ways and 
means of nearly all the upland f arm.s. Few shipping- 
varieties are cultivated, for the reason that as yet 
shipping facilities for green fruit are not of such a 
character, as to make this branch of farming in- 
dustry ijrofitable. These fruits are made into 
brandy, and shipped in that form. 

Numerous vineyards dot the hillsides, and several 
thousand gallons of wine are made every year. The 
principal varieties of grapes grown are the Concord 



and Catawba. Goeth, Delaware, Norton's Virginia 
Seedling, Hiirttord Prolific, Clinton, and Isabella, 
are occasionally found, but they do not appear to 
thrive as well as the first two varieties named. • 

SHEKP-RAISING. 

Sheep-raising could be made a profitable branch 
of farming. The dry climate, abundance of nutri- 
tious grasses, generous supply of clear, pure water, 
M'ith which nature lias blessed the county, are most 
favorable to the successful keeping of fine breeds 
of mutton and avooI sheep. This industry, if begun, 
would bring lands now worthless into demand, and 
thousands of dollars into the general wealth of the 
community. 

MINEKALS. 

Ste. Genevieve County is as rich in mineral re- 
sources as she is in agricultural advantages. Cop- 
per, lead, iron, white sand, marble, sandstone, 
granite, limestone, and salt, are found in no incon- 
siderable (xuautities. 

The first in importance is copper mining. There 
are two of these mines in successful operation, the 
"Cornwall" and " Swansea." 

The "Cornwall" mine has yielded over 800,000 
pounds of oi'e, running from eighteen to twenty- 
five per cent, metalic coi)per since December 1st, 
1878. Its monthly yield is aboiit fifty tons. 

The " Swansea" began operations under its pres- 
ent management in July, 1879, and up to March, 
1880, had produced 128,000 pounds of ore. The qual- 
ity of the mineral is about the same as that of the 
" Cornwall." The force at work at the " Swansea " 
has, since it began, been very small, only about 
four to six miners, with which its average monthly 
yield has been about fifteen tons. 

Carbonates, oxides and sulphurets, with the car- 
bonates i^redominating, charactei-ize the deposits 
at these mines as well as in other places where 
copper has been discovered. 

All these ores are shipped to Baltimore and Phila- 
delphia, at great expense, because of want of facil- 
ities for reducing the ore here. 

Lead ore exists in the soutliern and central parts 
of the county. 

Other deposits have been found of pure galena, 
but no organized effort has been made to develop 
the discoveries. 

Among the other mineral resources may be men- 
tioned pure white sand, quarries of fine building 
stone (the piers of the St. Louis bridge are built 
from these quarries), marble quarries, an ample 
supply of limestone, and traces of coal and salt 
mines 

MATERIAL WEALTH. 

Assessment of 1879— personal property; number 
of horses, 3,196; asses, 14; mules, 1,002; cattle, 6,498; 
sheep, 5,619; hogs, 15,027; moneys, notes and bonds, 
.?370,025; other personal property, ?2:?0,601. 

Aggregate assessment of real estate, $1,332,649; 
real estate, city of St. Genevieve, ?193,865; St. Mary, 
?70,750; aggregate assessment of personal property, 
$810,959 ; total assessment of county, $2,153,708. 

PRINCIPAL TOWNS. 

There ai-e several towns in Ste. Genevieve County, 
tlie largest of which Is the county seat — Ste. Gene 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



243 



vieve. This city has a population of about two 
thousand eight hundred,, a regularly organized city 
government, and is in a prosperous financial condi- 
tion, with no outstanding bonds; has graded and 
graveled streets, and street lights, and is one of the 
most attractive little cities in the State. It is located 
immediately on the Mississippi river. 

It has an elegant public school building costing 
eight thousand dollars; a commodious house for 
colored scholars, a private academy for young 
ladies, under charge of the Sisters of St. Joseph, 
two parish schools, and a private school. 

The church facilities are a Catholic church, a 
(lerman Lutheran church, and a Baptist chapel. 

The largest manufacturing establishment is the 
Cone Flouring Mills. Tliis mill annually consumes 
two hundred thousaiid bushels of wheat. 

From statistics compiled last year, the import and 
export trade of the city amounted to over five hun- 
dred thousand dollars, for which thirty thousand 
dollars was paid out for freight. 

St. Mary's, on the southern border of the county, is 
the next town in importance and in population. It 
has a popul, tion of six hundred, schools, churches, 
and a large i. .ur mill, and several minor manufac- 
turing establishments. 

The other towns of the county are Lawrenceton, 
Bloomsdale, Avon, Quarrytown and New Offenburg. 

FACTS FOR THE IMMIGRANT. 

Ste. Genevieve County is one of the most prosper- 
ous counties in the State, is rapidly developing her 
resources, and offers inducements to the active, 
thrifty settler, equal to any county in the State. 



LAND PRICES. 

Lands of excellent quality, unimproved, can be 
bought at from $2 to $5 per acre ; improved U-dui tf5 
to $50 per acre. 

TIJVIBEK. 

Oak, ash, walnut, cherry, pine and many other 
varieties of excellent timber crown its hills and 
shroud its valleys, awaiting the stui-dy yeoman's 
axe, and saw mills dot the county in every direction. 

SCHOOLS. 

There are forty- three public school houses in the 
county, and the school sessions average from four 
to ten months each year. 

CHURCHES. 

There are churches of every denomination in the 
county, and no homestead can be reared more than 
four or five miles from at least one church and a 
school hause. 

BRIDGES. 

Substantial bridiges of iron and wood are spanning 
the streams. 

IMMIGRATION. 

An influx of settlers to furnish labor, and utilize 
the material at hand, will link eveiy section at no 
distant day vrith gravel and macadamized roads. 

PROPOSED RAILROAD. 

A railroad is graded diagonally through the county, 
and the probabilities are favorable for its ultimate 
completion. 

WELCOME. 

Ste. Genevieve County greets the immigrant with a 
hearty welcome, and offers him a home and society 
equal to .'.n- he has left behind him; toleration in 
religion, fairness and justice in all things, and co- 
operatio) i. his efforts to create a pleasant home 
for himself and his posterity. 



ST. LOUIS COUNTY. 



In point of wealth and population, St. Louis 
County is the second in importance in the State, 
having a population of 4:0,000. It is more closely 
settled, perhaps, than any other section of countiy 
in the State, as it comprises all the outlying suburbs 
of the great city of St. Louis, and has not a city of 
any importance within its limits. 

SEPARATION FROM THE CITY. 

It is composed almost wholly of suburban resi- 
dences, and of small farms and gardens. A large 
belt of it, adjoining the city limits, and following the 
city's boundai-y, from tlie Mississippi River north of 
the city, to tlie river again south of the city, has long 
since been laid off and platted into town lots or 
very small subdivisions for gardening purposes. 
V\> to, and including the year 1H76, the city and 
county of St. Louis were under one county govern- 
ment, and, while under the same government, con- 
ti'acted a large del)t for parks and internal im- 
provements. Under constitutional authority, by a 
vote of the people, the two governments were 



sepaiated, the separation taking effect in January^ 
1877. By the terms of the separation, the county 
.was relieved of all debt and became the owner 
of all property and improvements within it.s lim- 
its. 

Since the separation the county has acquired a. 
location for a permanent seat of justice, and Has 
erected a handsome court house and jail at the 
county seat, which is called Clayton, in honor of the 
venerable Ralph Clayton, one of the oldest resi- 
dents, who donated one hundred acres of fine laud 
to the county for use as a location for its county 
seat. Tills property has been laid off into town lots, 
and has become quite valuable, and is being rapidly 
built up. 

St. Louis County is composed of all that portion 
of the territory of the old county of St. Louis, as 
organized before the separation from the city. 

Tlie city of St. Louis forms a boundary for nearly 
the whole of the eastern front of the county, and is 
only about twenty-five miles from the farthest 
portion of the county. 



244 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



THE county's financial CONDITION. 

Since the separation, the City and county are 
under different and distinct governments, the city 
government having become responsible for the 
whole debt of the county. The county is now en- 
tirely free from debt, and its condition can be 
ascertained from the following statistics : 

Acres of land 301,816 

Town lots.. 3,737 

Houses 6,975 

Mules 3,284 

Cattle 8,973 

Sheep 5,801 

Hogs 27,372 

Which is assessed for taxation as follows : 

Land and town lots $13,930,450 

Houses 239,105 

Mules 137,100 

Cattle 140,920 

Sheep 10,380 

Hogs 61,315 

Money, notes, etc ,. 1,023,737 

All other 925,125 

Total $16,477,332 

Upon which there is a levy for State, county and 
road purposes, as follows : State, forty cents on one 
hundred dollars ; county, forty cents on one hundred 
dollars ; road, ten cents on one hundred dollars. 
From this assessment there was realized for county 
and road purposes for the last fiscal year, $142,197.38 ; 
of which was expended the sum of $96,227.18; leav- 
ing balance in county treasury, $45,970.21. 

The county has already opened, and has now in 
excellent order for travel, about two hundred and 
•eighty miles of macadam roads, and about eleven 
miles of earth roads. These roads are districted 
into thirty-five districts, superintended by a like 
number of bonded overseers. All of which roads are 
kept in perfect order out of the sum above specified. 

.STOCK LAW. 

There is a special law for the county i-estraining 
■domestic animals from running at large, thus mak- 
ing it unnecessary to maintain fencing around 
premises in the country. Many of the finest fai-ms 
and garc\ens in the country are wholly or partially 
Without fencing. 

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 

The lands of the county are exceptionally pro- 
ductive. The Florissant and A\^alton Valleys are 
known throughout the State for tlieir beauty and 
fertility. It is estimated that the average yield of 
crops per acre in the county is, as follows ; 

Corn, bushels ,55 

Wheat, bushels 20 

Winter barley, bushels 50 

Spring barley, bushels .35 

Hay, pounds ... 3,000 

There is no finer country for gardening in the 
West. The lands usually consist of easy slopes, 
offering ])ropcr exposures and excellent drainage 
for successful gardening. The roads all converge 
to the city, and thus afford direct communication 
from all parts of the county with the city markets. 
No tolls are exacted on any of the roads or bridges, 
and no license is required for selling produce in the 
eity, and it attords at all times a ready and paying 



market for the entire yield of the county of every 
kind. There are thousands of acres of land now in 
gardens, and they are kept in the highest state of 
cultivation. The soil of the county and its ex- 
posures make it especially fitted for the culture of 
grapes and berries. 

MARKET FACILITIES. 

The county has nearlj- seventy miles of frontage on 
the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and is crossed by 
the following railways: Missoiiri Pacific, St. Louis, 
Iron Mountain & Southern, Wabash, St. Louis & 
Pacific, St. Louis & San Francisco, Keokuk & St. 
Louis, and West End Nai row Gauge. Along all of 
these roads that lead into the city, are built beautiful 
suburban villages, in which are the residences of 
thousands, who do business in the city, and thus 
seek quiet homes in the suburbs. The fare on these 
railwaj's is exceedingly light, and is made less as 
the population and traffic increase. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

The public schools of the county are in a most 
flourishing condition. There are eighty-four school 
districts, containing 10,062 children within school 
ages. School houses have already been erected in 
these districts, within easy distances, for the accom- 
modation of the children. There is loaned out at 
eight per cent, interest, belonging to the different 
townships, for the benefit of these schools, the sum 
of $54,513.71, from which is dei-ived a regular income, 
in addition to receipts from State and county funds, 
collected for school purposes. 

PRICE OF LAND. 

The very best lands can be had at from fifty to one 
hundred and fifty dollars per acre, according to 
location and state of improvements. There are 
thousands of acres of medium class lands, that can 
be had from ten to thirty-five dollars jier acre. 

INDUCEMENTS TO IMMIGRATION, ETC. 

Taken as a whole, St. Louis County offers induce- 
ments to buy and build up homes, having pleasant 
and profitable surroundings that can be found in 
but few other sections of the country. With easy 
and sure facilities for reaching all the markets, the 
intelligent associations of a large city, a municipal 
government entirely free of debt, iiermanent im- 
provements all made, and in fine condition, and 
the burden of taxation light, it would seem as if 
persons desiring permanent homes could ask but 
little more. As j'et, many of the farms are large, 
having been owned and held by wealthy residents 
of the city, who used them as country residences. 
There is ample opportunity lor obtaining locations 
of such sizes as will suit purchasers. 

In topography, the county is high and gently roll- 
ing, with an underlying stratum of limestone; it is 
well watered, the Meramec and Des Peres Rivers and 
numerous small creeks furnishing live water the 
year round. It is particularlj^ healthy, and is built 
up and occupied by a most intelligent and refined 
class of people. It is provided M'ith every facility 
for l)oth moral and intelleclual culture, being un 
equaled, in point of size and population, in the num- 
ber of its churches and schools. We claim for St 
Louis County, that it otters permanent attractions 
to settlers not surpassed by any section of ciiuutry 
in the United States. 



Handbook of Missouri. 



245 



SALINE COUNTY. 



Saline County is situated on the south side of the 
Missoiiri Kiver, and a little west and north of the 
center of the State, and immediately east of the 
county of Lafayette ; the Missouri River forming the 
boundary on the nortli and east for a distance of 
ninety miles. This county lias ofttimes received the 
well merited appellation of "the Garden of Mis- 
souri." 

SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 

Its soil is principally a black loam, from two to 
eight feet deep, underlaid with a porous subsoil, the 
advantage of which is felt and appreciated by the 
intelligent farmer, especially in very wet or verj' 
dry seasons. For agricultural puiTsoses and stock- 
raising this county is unsui-passed by any in the 
State. When hemp, that test of good land, was ex- 
tensively grown in this State, Saline was a large 
producer. Corn and wheat are the two leading 
products of this soil, and make large yields. A 
few years ago a premium was offered for the best 
ten acres of corn grown in the county, and was 
awarded to a farmer, who made an average of over 
one hundred and twenty-four bushels per acre, and 
seventeen others produced an average of over one 
hundred bushels per acre; all other cereals, com- 
mon to this latitude, are successfully and profitably 
cultivated ; considerable tobacco is grown in the 
northern and eastern parts of the county. Grasses 
grow to perfection, and a large quantity of hay is 
made in the county each year. Blue grass is the 
natural production of all open lands not in culti- 
vation. 

Orchards are numerous, and fruits fine, such as 
apples, peaches, pears, cherries, and the smaller 
fruits of the garden. 

SURFACE AND CHARACTERISTICS. 

About one -fourth of the land in Saline County is 
timbered, and three - fourths, prairie land. The 
timber consists, principally, of the different kinds 
of oak, walnut, hickory, elm, cotton-wood, hack- 
berry, ash, cherry, maple and sycamore. The 
pi-airie lands of the county have all been improved. 

PRICE OF LANDS. 

The average price of improved land is about 
twenty-five dollars per acre ; that of unimproved 
land, about six dollars per acre. 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 

Coal is found in all parts of the county in abun- 
dance. In the southeastern part of tlie county is 
the Sappington-Jackson Bank of cannel coal. 



Salt and mineral waters are found in all parts of 
the county. The great salt spring, eight miles west 
of Marshall, is probably the lai-gest spring of the 
kind in the State. Near Brownsville, in the south- 
western portion of tlie county, are situated the 
Sweet Springs — rapidly becoming, on account of 
their health-giving properties, a popular summer 
resort, and may well be called the " Saratoga of the 
the West." 

WEALTH OF THE COUNTY. 

A'jsessed 
Value. 

No. Acres of Land 460,788 $.5,018,299 

" Town Lots 11,266 614,105 

" Horses 10,797 356,949 

" Mules 3,999 180,577 

" Asses and Jennets 94 4,675 

" Neat Cattle 26,174 417,965 

" Sheep 20,847 31,582 

" Hogs 49,909 98,537 

Money, Notes and Bonds 988,317 

All other Personal Property 662,353 

Total Taxable Wealth $8,400,269 

MARKET FACILITIES. 

The Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad runs 
centrally through the county from east to west, en- 
tering over the fine steel bridge that spans the Mis- 
souri River at Glasgow; the Lexington Branch of 
the Missouri Pacific crosses the southwestern por- 
tion of the county, and the Wabash, St. Louis & 
Pacific travei'ses the north bank of the Missouri 
River, and, by these roads and the river above 
named, the numerous products of the generous soil 
find direct, ready and competing markets in the 
cities of St. Louis and Chicago. 

RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL. 

Churches and school houses are found in every 
neighborhood of the county. The one hundred and 
thirteen schools of the county are mainly kept up 
from the public scliool fund of the county. The 
Sappington school fund, a private fund of about 
$40,000, is for the education of orphan and indigent 
children. 

THE FINANCIAL CONDITION 

of the county is unexcelled. Saline County not hav- 
ing a dollar of indebtedness, and being occupied 
by a tliriving, pi'osperous and liberal people, who 
extend the hand of welcome to all seeking a good 
home in a good land. 



246 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



SCHUYLER COUNTY. 



Schuyler County is located on the northern 
boundary of the State, sixty miles west of Keokuk, 
and is crossed by two railroads ; one, the Wabash, St. 
Louis & Pacific, formerly the North Missouri Rail- 
road, running north and south through the county, 
and connecting St. Paul with St. Louis ; the other, the 
Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska liailroad, running west 
from Keokuk, passes east and west through the 
county, and crosses the former road one mile north 
of Gleuwood. In this way all the good markets are 
easy of access. 

PRICE OF LAND. 

The county is divided into small farms, and four- 
flfths of the land is good for farming purposes, with 
the exception of a small strip located on Chariton 
river. Good, unimproved land can be bought on 
easy terms at five dollars per acre, and improved 
fanns from seven to ten dollans per acre. About 
one-fourth of the land is prairie. 

TIMBER. 

Timber is abundant and affords che^ip material 
for farm improvements and fuel. 

WATER 

is in ample supply ft^r ;ill purposes. 

SOILS. 

The soil is not so rich, nor so deep as some Illinois 
lands, but as the grazing is superb, including the 
celebrated blue grass, stock-raising is rapidly be- 
coming the ruling industry. 

HEALTHFITLNESS. 

The climate is exceedingh' healthy, and no chronic 
disorders prevail. 

FINANCIAL CONDITION — SCHOOL FUND. 

The county contains 194,432 acres of land ; aver- 
age taxable valuation, .f4.;5.o per acre. Town lots, 
3,580; average taxable valuation, $34 per lot; aver- 
age annual tax levy for county purposes for the 
past six%ears, 12 4-10 mills. Population, 12,000, 
estimated. Number of hoi-ses, 3,820; mules, 462; 
. cattle, 9,305; sheep, 13,482; hogs, 19,732. The above 
is taken from the last report of the County Assessor. 
There are sixty school districts, with 3,818 school 
children. The permanent school fund belonging to 
the county and townships is .f36,300, and is constantly 
being increased by the flues, forfeitures, tax pen- 
alty, strays and licenses. This fund is loaned to 
the citizens of the county, and the interest, amount- 
ing to nearly one dollar for each scholar, is annually 
apportioned to the schools. The annual district 
school lavy in the county averages four mills. Each 
district has a school house, nearly new and paid tor. 

MANUFACTURING INTERESTS. 

There are, in the county, three steam mills, mer- 
chant and custom combinixl ; fifteen steam mills, 
saw and grist combined; one steam mill, woolen 
and carding comliined: one steam mill, carding 
and grist combined ; one steam mill, iron foundry 
and machini' :-hi)>) combined: tliree steam saw 



mills ; one steam mill, manufacturin'4' w (>(id<ii wagon 
material. 

CHURCHES, SOCIETIES AND ORDERS. 

The Methodists have seventeen congregations 
and 995 members ; the Baptists have sixteen congre - 
gallons and 823 members; the Clu-istians have ten 
congregations and 756 members ; the Presbyterians 
have one congregation and 50 members; the Epis- 
copalians have one congregation and 25 members. 
Four Masonic lodges have 183 members, three Odd 
Fellows' lodges have 116 members, six temperance 
Bed Kil)bon Clubs have 446 members. No saloons 
are allowed by law in the county. 

TOWNS. 

Lancaster, the county seat, located near the cen- 
ter of the county, on the Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska 
Railroad, two miles east of the junction of the above 
road, with the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad, 
sixty-five miles west of Keokuk, Iowa. The town is 
beautifully situated, healthy, and affording excel- 
lent water in great abundance. It contains tlie 
court house and jail, fine, large school building, two 
church buildings. Masonic and Odd Fellows' hall, 
bank, large and complete hotel, merchant mill, 
printing office, five general stores (large and full of 
goods), two hardware, three drug, three grocery, 
one stove and tin, two furniture and two millinery 
stores, one lumber and one brick j-ard, one photo- 
graph gallery, three boot and shoe, two wagon, two 
blacksmith, one cooper and one butcher shop, two 
livery stables, lawyers and doctoi's in quality and 
quantity sufficient. There has been shipped from 
this station, for the year 1879, Lie following produc- 
tions : 

Car Loads.. 

Horses 1 

Mules 2 

Cattle 13 

Hogs 68 

Sheep 9 

Poultry 3 

Rye 7 

Corn 2 

Oats 8 

Hay 29 

Walnut logs and lumber 15 

Shaved hoops 42 

Wood 10 

Railroad ties 105 

Wool, pounds 16,785 

The other thriving towns are Glcnwood, on the 
AVabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway ; Queen City, 
on same road ; Grcentop, on same road ; Downing, 
on Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska Railroad, and Coats- 
ville, on the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway. 
All are prominent shipping points for the produc- 
tions of tlie county, and are favorably located in 
the midst of prosperous farming communities. 

The laws are rigidly enforced in Schuyler County, 
and tlie inhabitants hospitable and moral. The im- 
migrant will receive a warm welcome. 



Hand-Book qf Missouri. 



247 



SCOTLAND COUNTY. 



Scotland County is in the northeastei-n part of the 
State of Missouri; bordei-s on the Iowa line, and is 
situated about forty miles west of the Mississippi 
River. The county was organized from a part of 
Lewis County, on the 19th day of January, lail; is 
twenty-one miles square, and contains 278,748 acres 
of land. Her population in 1850, was 3,783, in 1860, 
8,873, in 1870, 10,670, and in 1880 is estimated at 15,000. 

THE SURFACE OF THE COUNTRY 

is undulating, and consists of about two-thirds 
prairie, one-sixth table and one-sixth bottom lands. 
These lands are well drained by the Little Fox, 
Korth and South Wyacouda, Bear, Baker, Foreman, 
North Fabius, Indian, Tobin, Fabius and Middle 
Fabius Creeks, and the south fork of Middle Fabius. 
These streams are at a convenient distance from 
each other, and flow from the northwest in a south- 
easterly direction. 

THE CLIMATE 

cannot be surpassed. The winters are short and 
mild, the summers long and temperate, being just 
the requisites of good health and abundant harvests. 
There are no malarial diseases. Ague or chills are 
little known. 

THE SOIL 

is very fertile and productive, the sub-stratum is a 
brown clay, technically known as the bluff forma- 
tion, while the upper stratum is a rich, sandy loam. 

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS. 

All the small grains can be grown successfully 
here, but corn, oats and wheat are the pwncipal 
agricultural products. Tobacco is a profitable crop 
and the quality is said to be excellent. There are 
few better farming counties than Scotland. All the 
products of the dairy can be found here in large 
quantities. 

Splendid pasturage abounds which cannot be 
excelled any^vhere. Timothy and clover grow in 
profusion, while blue grass is indigenous to the soil 
and grows as luxuriantly here as in the celebrated 
blue grass regions of Kentucky. The county is 
well watered, and there is no point of land in the 
county more than two miles distant from continual 
living stock water. The superb pastures, large 
crops of cereals, the numerous, never-failing 
streams, the thick, young timber for shelter, pas- 
turage for about two hundred and eighty days jn 
the year, and the mild winter, render the advan- 
tages of this county for stock-raising second to 
none. Cattle, short horn and other breeds, hogs of 
every kind, horses and mules of excellent breed and 
size, are shipped from this county in great numbers. 
Sheep farming is especially profitable. Scotland 
produces more wool than any other county and 
there is a fortune to every man who engages in it 
extensively. There are no flies nor diseases here to 
destroy or impair the health of stock of any kind. 
FRUITS 

of every kind common to the temperate zone grow 
here in abundance. Apples, pears, peaches and 



apricots, a dozen varieties of grapes, small fruits, 
and all kinds of berries are well adapted to our soil 
and climate. 

TIMBER 

is distributed all over the county, along the bottoms 
and generally skirting the creeks, and is abundantly 
sufficient for purposes of fencing, building and 
fuel — oak, hickoiy, walnut and elm prevailing. 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 

The coal fields extend into this county, but no 
mines have yet been developed. 

EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES. 

The people believe in education, and there is a 
good public school for every four square miles of 
territory, with about one hundred teachers emijloyed 
in the county. Almost every community has a sub- 
stantial church building. 

MARKETS. 

There is always, a ready market for all farm 
products. The Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska Railroad 
runs through this county from east to west. The 
taxes are light, the State and county tax together 
amounting to only one and one -half cents on the 
dollar, and, besides, the property is not assessed at 
more than one -third of its true value. 

PRICE OF FARMS. 

In this county, farms well improved, in excellent 
localities, and with good buildings, orchards, fences, 
weUs, etc., can be ijurchased for from fifteen to 
twenty doUars per acre, and medium farms from 
ten to fifteen dollars per acre ; unimproved farms at 
from three to eight dollars per acre. 

PRINCIPAL TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

Memphis is the county seat of Scotland County, 
and is situated near the geographical center of the 
county, and is the most important trading point in 
Northeast Missouri. It was first settled in 1838, and 
was incorporated as a town in 1870. In 1880 it was 
re -incorporated as a city. The ninth census gave 
it a population of one thousand and seven, but since 
that time it has increased to fifteen hundred. It 
occupies a picturesque site, and contains a beautiful 
public square, surrounded by tall, substantial brick 
business houses. There are eight churches here of 
the various denominations, all well supported and 
well attended, two private seminaries of learning, 
a large public school building (brick) three stories 
high. Situated in one of the most fertile counties 
of the State, populated with an enterprising and 
intelligent people, witli no rival towns to contend 
with, Memphis bids fair to become a city of eight 
or ten thousand inhabitants. All of her business 
houses are on a firm basis, and are prospering. 
Her manufacturing interests are small, but doubling 
their capital. Surrounded by tlie best wool produc- 
ing country in the State, Memphis ofFers superior 
inducements for the establishment of a woolen mill. 



248 



Hais'u-Book of Missouri. 



There are several other good trading points in the 
county, but the great bulk of the business is trans- 
acted here. The Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska Rail- 
road depot is located here, and there are also three 
flour mills, running constantly, and doing a large 
and increasing business. 

Arbela, situated on the Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska 
Eailroad, eight miles east of Memphis, is a pleasant 
little village, contains sevei-al stores, a steam mill, 
school house, and church. Considerable stock and 
produce is shipped from this place. 

Four miles south of Arbela is ^tna, containing 
several stores, school house, grist mill, and two 
churches. 



Uniontown, in the extreme northwest corner of 
the county, contains two stores, a church, and a 
splendid school building. 

Sand Hill, fourteen miles southeast of Memphis, 
is the oldest settlement of tlie county and is a 
pleasant little hamlet. 

CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 

The settlers before the year 1860, were mostly from 
Virginia and Kentucky ; since that time from Iowa, 
Illinois, Ohio, and the Northern and Eastern States. 
The people are equally divided in politics. Prob- 
ably there is no county in the Union where less crime 
is committed. The citizens are kind and hospitable 
— sectional prejudice is among the things that were. 



SCOTT COUNTY. 



The county of Scott is situated about 150 miles 
below St. Louis. It has an area of about twenty- 
five by twenty miles. Its eastern boundary is tlie 
Mississippi Kiver, alfording several excellent land- 
ings ; its western boundary is the White Water, or 
Little Iliver. On the north it is bounded by Cape 
Girardeau County, and on the south by Missis- 
sippi and New Madrid Counties. 

The population is about 10,000, with an assessed 
value of taxable property of $1,800,000. It has no 
bonded debt, and no interest to pay, which makes 
taxation light. The total taxes levied last year 
amounted to but $1.10 on the $100. It is well supplied 
with public and private schools, and has churches 
of nearly all denominations— the Baptists and Meth- 
odists being most numerons. 

SURFACE CHAKACTERISTICS AND SOIL. 

It has a great variety of soils— hilly and broken 
upland, river bottom, level sandy loam, etc. 

The last spur of the Ozark Mountains juts into the 
northern portion of the county, making it hilly and 
broken. The soil is an admixture of clay and loam, 
strongly impregnated with lime, nraking it admir- 
ably adapted to the growth of wheat, which is suc- 
cessfully cultivated by frugal, industrious, and 
well-to-do German farmers, who settled here some 
thirty -rtve years ago. Wheat from this portion 
of the county, made into flour at the mills of 
Cape Girardeau, took the first premium at the 
Vienna Exposition, and also at the Centennial. 
The eastern portion of tlie county, south of the 
hills, and the western portion, along the White 
AVater, are rich viver bottoms, wide in extent, and 
embracing a large area of as yu-A\ and productive 
lands as are found in any country, being black 
alluvial soil, exceedingly well adapted to the grow- 
ing of corn, wheat, oats, etc., the various grasses, 
roots, and vegetal)les. 

The central and southern portions are sandy 
loam, admirably adapted to farming, and yielding a 
larger return from the same amount of labor, than 
any lands in the State. Its great peculiarity is the 
ease with which it is cultivated, and the certainty of 
its crops. It can b(^ ploughed immediately after a 



rain, and the oldes^ settler here cannot recollect 
a failure of crops on this character of land. This is 
accounted for by the fact that the water of the Mis- 
sissippi percolates throiigh the entire extent of its 
sandy subsoil, and is constantly ascending to the 
surface ; and, if crops are properly, cultivated, they 
never suffer from drouth. In late years it has been 
found that the wheat, grown on these lands, equals 
that grown on the hills, both in quantity and 
quality. 

Last year, experiments were made on this soil 
with the " Early Amber sugar cane," which proved 
a complete success, although the parties had no 
previous knowledge of its cultivation, and their 
appliances for grinding the cane and evaporating 
the juice were of the rudest kind. The success of 
last year has induced the planting of a large area 
this year. 

CROP AVERAGES. 

The average yield of the different crops for last 
year was about as follows : 

Wheat bushels per acre, 1.5 

Corn " " 40 

Oats " " 40 

Rye " " 30 

Barley " " 35 

Irish Potatoes " " 200 

Sweet " " " 250 

Timothy tons " 2 

Clover " " 2 

Hungarian " " 3 

■ Cotton, unginned ])ounds " 1,000 

A good many farmers plant from five to ten acres 
in cotton, which produce well, and can be marketed 
when there is nothing else to sell. 

STOCK AND DAIRY. 

The coiinty is well adapted to stock-raising, as 
all the grasses are produced with certainty and 
in great abundance, stock-water is plentiful and 
lasting, and only a few months of winter feeding 
is necessary. Hogs can be raised at a more nominal 
cost, as they only require to be fed with corn abo 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



249 



a month before sale ; previous to that, the abundance 
of mast keeps them iu good order. 

Dairy farming could not be otherwise than profit- 
able here, as the transportation facilities are so 
great, that butter could be placed in New York 
at a cost of one and a half cents per pound, and, 
taking into consideration the value of the land 
here and that from which New York receives its 
butter supply, it will be seen that there is a large 
margin left for profit. 

CLIMATE AND FKUITS. 

The climate is a medium between the extremes of 
north and south; the autumn or fall extends fre- 
quently into the middle of December, leaving but 
a short winter; the seasons are about a fortnight 
earlier than in the latitude of St. Louis County, 
making the cultivation of vegetables and fruits 
very profitable, as they can be placed in .St. Louis 
about ten hours after they are gathered. AYater- 
melons have been cultivated along the line of the 
railroad, for some time ; one hundred car loads were 
shipped from Diehlstadt, last year, and large ship- 
ments were also made from Blodgett and Morley. 
Strawberries are also cultivated, profitably, for the 
St. Louis market. 

MINERALS, ETC. 

All the varieties of clays for fire and common 
brick, pottery, etc., are found in various portions 
of the county, together with extensive deposits of 
ochre and mineral paints of various colors. There 
a large mill for grinding and drying ochre, two 
miles above Morley. 

THE TIMBER 

of this region is unequaled, immense forests exist 
along its western border in this primeval state, con- 
taining timber suitable for sliip- building, railroad 
cars, wagons, agricultural implements, joists, studs, 
pannels and flooring for houses, barrel and pipe 
staves, shingles, etc. The most valuable varieties 
are the different kinds of white oak, poplar, ash, 
walnut, etc. There is a large quantity of sweet 
gum, which, when introduced and tried, will sup- 
plant pine, in a great measure, for house lumber. 

TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES. 

The transportation facilities are great. It has the 
Mississippi River along its entire eastern front, the 
St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway runs 
through its entire length, from northwest to south- 
east, and the Cairo division of the same road 
through its southern townships. This creates a 
good local market for produce, etc. Anything that a 
farmer has to dispose of can be readily sold at any 
of the towns along the railroad, or those on the 
river, at nearly St. Louis prices. 

HEALTH OF THE PEOPLE. 

The greatest objection to immigration into the 
Southeast, and the one having the least foundation 



in fact, is on the score of health. The country has 
been blamed for what should be laid to the charge 
of a majority of the people inhabiting it. The large 
quantities of vacant land has induced a class of 
people to " squat" here, whose habits and mode of 
life would make them unhealthy in any place on 
the globe. Living side by side with these are 
families, who, having houses properly raised from 
the ground and ventilated, paying proper attention 
to their diet and clothing, and working in the field, 
instead of " coon hunting," enjoy as good health 
there as in any portion of tlie Union. The introdur-- 
tion of Driven Pumps, as pure water can be obtained 
in any place, at a depth of from seventeen to twenty- 
five feet, has improved the health of the former 
class materially, as the surface-water which they 
drank had a good deal to do with their ill-health. 

MILLS AND MILLING. 

There are several saw-mills in the county, and, as 
yet, only two flouring mills, a large one at Commerce, 
on the river, and a small one at Sylvania, on the rail- 
road. There is an opening for a large flour mill at 
Morley, on the railroad, situated in the center of 
the wheat growing region, to any person who would 
erect one at that point. The railroad company 
would donate land for a mill site, and all tlie nec- 
essary outbuildings and cottages for employes and 
would also give them a private switch. 

PRICES OF LAND. 

The prices of land are very moderate, improved 
farms can be bought at from ten to twenty-five dol- 
lars per acre. The St. Louis, Iron Mountain & 
Southern Railway Company have a large quantity 
of fine timber, agricultural and grazing lands in the 
wild state, which are sold at from two to five dollars 
per acre. The Scott County Immigration Society 
will be happy to furnish information to intending 
immigrants on any of the above points. 

Scott County offers the greatest inducements to 
immigrants, whether with or without capital, the 
former can make profitable investments in the dif- 
ferent manufactories of wood and grain, in the 
reclamation of wet lands, stock raising, and the 
purchase of improved farms, which can be bought 
at a half of their cost, as there is a class of pioneers 
all over tlie West who make improvements with their 
own labor, who are always willing to sell at a sacri- 
fice for cash ; while tliose without capital can get a 
piece of wild land on such terms as in the course 
of four years will make them the owner of it, in an 
improved state, and all from their own labor, while 
neither will be required to make any great sacrifice, 
as here iire possessed all the advantages of civili- 
zation in the shape of schools, churches, good so- 
ciety, railway facilities, and easy access to good 
markets, with two newspapers — the "Dispatch," 
published at Commerce, and the " Record," pub- 
lished at Benton, the county seat. 



250 



Hand-Book of Aiissouui. 



SHANNON COUNTY. 



Shannon County, Missouri, contains about 1,000 
square miles of territoiy. 

TOPOGRAPHY — SOILS— PRODUCTS, 

The land may be divided into two classes, tillable 
and grazing lands. One-thii-d of the land in the 
county is susceptible of cultivation. The tillable 
land consists of river bottom, valley and upland. 
The soil of the first division is alluvial ; that of the 
second a sand loam; of the third a clay loam. The 
bottom and valley lands are already rich in the 
natural elements necessary to plant for production, 
and will, therefore, produce abundant crops with- 
out the use of manure. The uplands do not pro- 
duce such abundant crops during the first two or 
three years of tillage, but when they are properly 
farmed they prove to be the most lasting lands. 
There is an abundance of water in the county for 
any purpose. Current River enters it at the north- 
west corner, and runs in a southeasterly direction 
tlu-ough the county. Jacks Fork of Current River 
rises in the southern part of Texas County, enters 
Shannon County about twelve miles north of its 
southwest comer, and runs in a northeasterly 
direction, emptying into Current River near the 
center of the county. These two streams have 
about ten tributaries, extending in various direc- 
tions through the county. These streams furnish 
abundant power for manufacturing purposes. They 
also furnish ample employment for the followers of 
Isaac Walton, as they abound in fish of various 
kinds, such as bass, pike, perch, salmon, sucker, 
catfish, drum, gar and red-horse. 

TIMBER SUPPLY. 

As a general thing the county is well timbered 
with yellow pine, black and white oak preponder- 
ating; black and white walnut, sycamore, pin and 
burr oak, cedar, elm, cherry, hickory and buckeye 
are not so abundant, yet in good supply. The tim- 
ber is an important factor in the resources of this 
county. 

VARIETY OF PRODUCTION. 

The farm products are : Corn, wheat, oats, pota- 
toes, peanuts, tobacco, cotton, hay, fruits, berries 
and vegetables of all kinds common to this latitude. 
The soil and climate are more especially adapted 
to the production of the tame grasses, fruit and 
tobacco — although the other i^roducts, mentioned 
above, are successfully grown by the intelligent 
farmer. 



STOCK-RAISING. 

Horses, cattle, sheep and hogs are easily and 
cheaply raised here. Nature has made such ample 
provision for them in the way of mast and wild 
grass, and the soil is so well adapted to tame grasses 
for enclosed or out pasturage, that they are brought 
to a marketable age and condition at the least 
possible expense to the owner. The wild pea- vine 
furnishes an excellent late pasturage near the 
streams. Blue grass is indigenous to the soil, and 
when the ground is sufficiently packed by the stock 
it begins to appear. A small amount of intelligent 
work will hasten its coming. 

The above facts, taken in connection with the 
healthfulness of the county for man and beast, 
would appear to render this a profitable location for 
the stock-raiser. 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 

The county, besides the resources before men- 
tioned, has undeveloped mineral resources. Iron, 
copper and lead indications can be seen in many 
parts of the, county. The prospect miner has been 
here ; the man witli capital is now demanded to go 
deeper than a prospect shaft can go. The mineral 
resources are as yet a reserve fund to be drawn on 
in an emergency. 

TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETS. 

The county is about one hundred and seventy-five 
miles from St. Louis bj' the usually traveled route. 
Forty-five miles from Salem, the present terminus 
of the St. Louis, Salem & Little Rock Railway, a 
branch of which is now in course of construction 
to a point near the northern boundary line, forty- 
five miles from Piedmont, on the Iron Mountain & 
Southern Railroad. 

MORAL, SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL. 

The citizens of the county are generally law- 
abiding. The criminal statistics will compare favor- 
ably with those of any county in the State. The crim- 
inal court has had little business for several years. 
The old social customs once so prevalent in the early 
settlement of the country have not disappeared; 
the latch string still kangs on the outside of the 
door to the belated traveler, and the hospitalities of 
the place are still extended to those who call. The 
standard of morality is as high as in the meti'opolis, 
and the advantages of a common school education 
are not disregarded. The great need of the county 
is intelligent labor, backed up )iy capital in an ordi- 
nary amount. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



251 



SHELBY COUNTY. 



Shelby county offers superior iiKiucemeuts ami 
attractions to immigrants, in the cheapness of its 
lands, its light taxation, its location, soil, climate, 
healthfulness, social and other considerations, 
which go to make life profitable and enjoyable. 

It is situated in the Xoi-theast portion of tlie State, 
and is the second county west of the Mississippi 
River, on the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, and 
has an area of 322,560 acres, and a population of 
fifteen thousand inhabitants. 

MARKETS. 

Quincy and Hannibal, the eastern termini of this 
road, are on the "Father of Waters," and about 
thirty-flve miles from the county line, giving good 
and convenient markets, and several lines of roads 
connect these points witli St. Louis, Chicago and 
the East. 

WATER SUPPLY. 

Salt River runs througli its whole extent, from 
northwest to southeast; and tliis, with North River, 
the Fabins, Tiger, Ottar, Crooked, and a dozen 
smaller streams, gives abundant supply of water 
for domestic purposes. 

THE TIMBER 

is principally confined to these streams and cover 
about one-third of the area of the county — the 
native forests abounding in oak, walnut; elm, maple, 
hickory, hackberi-y and white birch. The rest of the 
county is almost entirely rolling prairie, with a soil 
of dark loam, rich in vegetable matter, from eight to 
twenty inches deep. 

SOILS. 

In the timber, the surface soil is light in color, 
especially where grows the largest and finest white 
oak. The depth and fertility of this soil is indicated 
by the growth of timber thereon. 

STOCK-RAISING ADVANTAGES. 

Blue grass is indigenous to all this country, niucli 
of it comijaring favoral)ly with Kentucky's far- 
famed blue grass region; while timotliy, red and 
white clover, grow as surely and luxuriantly as in 
any part of the great West. 

No finer meadows of timothy grass grow in any 
land under the sun, and these, with the blue grass 
pastures, are the special glory and wealth of the 
county. 

Nature has been lavish here, with rich grasses, 
pure waters, abundant slielter and kindly climate, 
making this region vei-y attractive and profitable to 
the herdsman. 

The climate is mild enough to give about eigiit 
months pasturage in the year. 

PRODUCTS OF THE SOIL. 

Next to the gi-asses, corn is the largest crop ; tliat 
of 1879 is put down at 250,000 bushels. Oats, and 
other small grains do well. There is but little out- 
ward movement of grain, however; the farmers 
preferring the moi-e convenient and profitable way 
of converting it into beef and pork. 



Wheat does well ou hickory and white oak land, 
and, with a favorable winter, on the large prairies, 
often yielding twenty to thirty bushels to the acre. 

Tobacco is grown to a considerable extent, and 
the leaf produced, is greatly esteemed by the best 
tobacco manufacturers in tlie country. About 
500,000 pounds are annually shipped from the 
county. 

FRUIT-GROWING. 

It is a prime fruit country. It lies in the great 
fi'uitbelt of the continent, and tlie soil and climate 
are well suited to and produce apples, pears, 
grapes, and cherries, of superior flavor and fine 
size. 

TAXABLE WEALTH. ETC. 

The total valuation of real and personal property, 
for taxable purposes, is $S,682,344, and as the county- 
is nominally out of debt, the present rate of 
one dollar per Irandred yields abundant revenue. 
Tliree thousand dollars is tlie county's total debt, 
and that is held by the citizens of the county. There 
is not now, and never has been, any indebtedness to 
any raih-oad or other corporation. 

EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES. 

There are in the c'ounty seventy-five school- 
houses and schools— four of them graded high 
schools— a permanent fund of $(50,000, and an en- 
rollment of 4,777 school children. Besides the in- 
terest on this permanent school fund, the county is 
in receipt of a liberal apportionment from the State 
school fund, and from lines and penalties covered 
into the treasury and a direct school tax. 

Tlie public schools, of course, are free, under 
good discipline, and doing excellent work. 

Besides these, the Shelbina Collegiate Institute, 
located in Shelbina, tlie commercial city of the 
county, is an incorporated college, of high grade. 

CHURCHES. 

Tliere are upwards of thirty churches— many of 
them creditable buildings, and well sustained. 
Almost all the leading denominations are repre- 
sented. 

PRICE OF LANDS. 

Lands can be bought at prices that must attract. 
The best unimproved lands sell at from eight to 
fifteen dollars per acre, according to location, near- 
ness to the railroad or the towns. Those of inferior 
quality bring from two dollars and fifty cents to 
eight dollars per acre. 

Improved lands are held at from ten to thirty 
dollars per acre. The lower price represents fair 
soil, witli moderate improvements ; the higher 
figure, the choice of tlie county, witli fine buildings, 
orchai-ds, excellent fences, timlier and water. 

There are still upon the market, at fair figures, 
several large and valuable tracts of wild land, with 
splendid prairie and timber range, specially adapted 
to stock-raising. 



252 



I1ax,^--Book of Missouri. 



STODDARD COUNTY. 



Stoddard County, Missouri, is situated in the 
soutlieastern part of the State, twenty miles from 
the Mississippi River, opposite the mouth of the 
Ohio. The county is hounded on the east by White- 
water River, and on the west by the St. Francois. 
Along the borders of these streams are broad bot- 
toms of highly fertile land, some of which is sub- 
ject to overflow. The entire central portion of the 
county, from north to south, consists of rolling up- 
lands. 

SOIL. 

The soil of the bottoms is a sandy alluvium of 
great fertility, and well adapted for the culture of 
cotton. The uplands are of clay loam, suitable for 
wheat. Corn, potatoes, oats, tobacco and grass 
grow readily in any part of the county. 

WATER. 

Castor River and several smaller streams furnish 
a large amount of stock water. Wells of moderate 
depth furnish good water in any part of the county. 

TIMBER. 

The timber of the bottom lands is noted for its 
size and excellent quality. It consists chiefly of 
oak, hickory, gum, maple, ash and cjrpress, with 
occasional walnut, elm, catalpa, box- elder, etc. 
The timber of the uplands is of the same species, 
excepting cypress, but not so large as the timber in 
the bottoms. 

AREA. 

The area of Stoddard County is about 700 square 
miles, or 480,000 acres, of which not over 50,000 acres 
are in actual cultivation. 

POPULATION. 

The population of Stoddard County is about 12,000, 
and consists of immigrants from Tennessee, Ken- 
tucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Germany. 

MARKET FACILITIES. 

Shippers of produce have choice of St. Louis, 
Chicago or Southern markets. The St. Louis & Iron 
Mountain Railroad Company give specially low 
rates from Dexter. As an item, it may he men- 
tioned that cotton is shipped to St. Louis atseventy- 
flve cents per bale. The merchants of Dexter and 
Bloomfleld, generally pay St. Louis prices, less 
freight, for all kinds of produce. Supplies of all 
kinds required by farmers can be bought at about 
the same prices as elsewhere in Missouri and in 
Illinois. 

ROADS. 

The public roads of Stoddard County have been 
much neglected, but the present County Court is 
taking measures for improvement in this respect. 

RAILROADS. 

The Cairo Division of the St. Louis, Iron Moun- 
tain & Southern Railway passes nearly through the 
center of the county, from east to west. The 



Illinois, Missouri & Texas RaDroad, extending 
southwest from Cape Girardeau, on the Mississippi 
River, will run, for twenty-eight miles, through the 
northern part of the county. Work is now sus 
pended on tliis road, but it is expected that it wi 
resume operation at an early day. A party is now 
surveying a line for a projected railroad from Dex- 
ter southward, to be known as the Dexter & Helena 
Railroad. 

SCHOOLS. 

The county is divided into sixty-three school dis- 
tricts, in each of which is a school house. Most of 
these are of primitive design, but as the old ones 
disappear, new ones, of a better class, are erected. 
The average term of school is four or five months 
per year. The teachers employed are mostly young 
men. The wages of teachers range from thirty to 
fifty dollars per month. The schools are supported, 
in part, by State funds, and partly by county and 
township school funds, and by local taxation. 

HEALTHFULNESS. 

There is very little sickness in Stoddard County 
that can be attributed to the climate. The most 
fatal disease is i)neumonia, and nearly every case 
of this is brought on by imprudence or exposure. 
There is but little fever and ague. Consumption is 
almost unknown. Diptheria, and similar diseases 
so fatal to children, have never prevailed to any 
extent in this county. 

CLIMATE. 

The winters are short and mild, and the summer 
heat is no greater than in Iowa or Minnesota, al- 
though the warm season lasts much lougei-. Severe 
drouths are unknown. There has not been a dry 
season, at all serious in its elfects on vegetation in 
thirty years. The mild winters are particularly 
favorable to stock-raising. 

FRUIT CULTURE. 

Much attention is paid to fruit-growing. Peaches 
have proved the most profitable crop. Strawberry 
culture has been carried on for three or four years 
by a few enterprising fai-mers, and has prove'd 
profitable. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

The most profitable business of the county is the 
raising of cattle and hogs. The shipments of stock 
show a steady increase from year to year, and large, 
amounts of money are realized by those engaged in 
the business. 

The excellent range is a great advantage, aff'ord- 
ing abundant grass for cattle and mart for hogs. 

FINANCES. 

The assessed valuation of taxable property in 
Stoddard County, August 1, 1879, was ?1,473,399. The 
total indebtedness of the county, January 1, 1879, 
after deducting the amount in the treasury, was 
$32,000, most of which is drawing interest at the 
rate of eight per cent. The county not only pays 



Hand-Book or Missouri. 



253 



interest promptly, but has during tlie past two 
years materially reduced the principal. County 
warrants now range fi'om ninety cents to par. 

TAXES. 

The rate of taxation for the past three years has 
been one dollar and forty cents per one hundred 
dollars, for all jjurposes except schools. The school 
tax varies from nothing in districts where the in- 
terest money is sufficient to support schools, to one 
dollar per one hundred dollars, in districts paying 
for new school-houses. »Thus the total average 
taxation is less than two per cent, on the assessed 
valuation. 



A^AJSTD. 

The tillable land of Stoddard County is owned 
mostly by citizens. The St. Louis & Iron Mountain 
Railway Company own about 30,000 acres of good 
upland. Most of the bottom lands outside the set- 
tled portion of the county belong to non-resident 
owners, who offer their land for sale at low prices 
tlirough resident agents. The titles of all lands 
can be readily ascertained from the land records, 
which are all preserved ; besides this, a firm in 
Bloomfleld has a complete abstract of title of all 
lands in the county. Good farming land can now be 
bought at from three to Ave dollars per acre, and im- 
proved farms from five to ten dollaTs per acre 



STONE COUNTY. 



This county is located in the extreme southwest- 
ern part of the State, on the Arkansas border, and 
has a population of about 5,000. 

SOIL AND SURFACE CHAKACTERISTICS. 

The soil is a rich, red loam, excei^t the river 
bottoms, which arc alluvial. In the extreme nor- 
thern part the soil of the immediate surface is light 
and ashy, but the loam is found at the depth of a 
few inches. Proceeding towards the southern line 
of the county, the surface soil is a dark, vegetable 
mould, with the red loam underlying it at a depth of 
forty or lifty feet. The alluvium on the river bot- 
toms vai-ies from a few inches "to twenty feet in 
depth, and in productiveness is unsurpassed. 

The unimproved lands of the entire county are 
covered with quite a heavy growth of timber— this 
narrow northern belt being more or less densely 
supplied with scrub oak, black-jack and a species of 
dwarf hickory. In the south the timber becomes 
heavier, the chief varieties being oak, hickory, 
black and white walnut, elm, maple, linden, syca- 
more, locust and many other kinds of lesser growth. 
The prevailing timber is oak, of which there are 
seven or eight varieties, the most abundant of which 
are the black and white oak, both valuable for lum- 
ber, as are also the post oak, chincapin and burr 
oak, the last found chiefly on the bottoms, some- 
times four or live feet in diameter. The hackberry, 
though not very abundant, is found here, and is 
very valuable for lumber. Red cedar abounds, and 
in the southern part of the county there is a prolific 
supply of yellow pine, the value of which needs no 
comment. 

It will be seen from the above that there are no 
prairie lands in the county; though in the extreme 
northern part, there are level or gently undulating 
stretches of land, that seem as if they might have 
been prairies at some former period. 

The proportion of cultivated land in this county 
to the uncultivated, is probably not more than one 
acre in twenty. 

After leaving the northern line of the county a 
few miles, going south, the surface of the country 
becomes gradually more and more hilly, until the 
southern boundary is approached, when the hills 



become little less than mountains. And throughout 
the county, there is comparatively l)ut little land in 
cultivation, except what lies in the river bottoms 
and on the lesser streams. Yet these uplands, 
rough and stony though they are, have a rich, deep 
soil, and if devoted to the raising of fruit, especially 
grapes, would soon be among the most valuable 
lands in the country. These hills are now covered 
with wild grape vines, the fruit of many of which 
has as fine a flavor as the most celebrated grapes in 
the gardens of the North and East. These lands 
can now be had at from one dollar to two dollars 
per acre. When the advantages of this county- 
are better and more widely known, intelligence and 
industry from abroad will come and cover these 
hills with pleasant homes, and orchards, and vine- 
yards, where now are only the barrenness and 
desolation of untamed nature. 

PRODUCTIONS. 

The products of the county, as now farmed, are 
corn, wheat, rye, oats, and a very little hay. Corn 
averages from thirty to forty bushels per acre; 
wheat, about fifteen bushels ; rye, the same, and 
oats, about thirty. But with improved methods of 
cultivation, the soil here would yield double this 
average in each of the crops. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

Cattle, horses, mules and hogs, are raised in con- 
siderable numbers ; and owing to the mildness of 
the winters, stock of all kinds can be easily and 
profitably raised. But little wool is grown, owing 
to the difficulty of protecting the sheep from dogs. 
The quality of stock raised in the county is inferior. 
Neither thoroughbred cattle or horses have been 
introduced to any extent, but improved ))reeds of 
hogs have been quite extensively introduced, but 
they have not flourished as well as the native stock; 
whether from lack of proper treatment is not yet 
known. Most of the improved breeds have died the 
present year, while the loss in native stock ha> been 
slight. 

PRICE OF FARMS. 

There is a large amount of public lands in the 
county — many thousand acres. Improved fanning 



254 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



lands can be had at from ten to twenty dollars per 
acre, according to location. The price of unim- 
proved lands is stated above. But there are thou- 
sands of acres here that can be had under the home- 
stead law, which brings the land down to about 
eighteen cents per acre. 

CLIMATE AND HEALTH. 

It can be truthfuUy said, that this locality is as 
healthy as any that can be found in tlie State. The 
water is remarkably pure, and copious living springs 
abound all over the county. So that, in its adaptation 
to successful fruit-growing and stock-raising, it is 
unsurpassed by any locality in the country. 

EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS. 

The county is well supplied with public school 
facilities, and great attention is paid to educational 
matters. Churches of various denominations abound 
in every neighborhood, and the people are hospita- 
ble, law-abiding, and industrious. 



MARKET FACILITIES. 

As yet, no railroad traverses the county, but the 
St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad, which runs 
close to the northwestern boundary, affords ample 
shipping facilities, and the home markets a^-e good 
and reliable. 

TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

Galena is the county seat, and is a prosperous, 
thriving town, with many good business houses, and 
is well supplied with churches, schools and public 
buildings. Its location is fine, and its future busi- 
ness prospects, favorable in every respect. 

The other towns and post-offlces are Sinclair, 
Robertson's Mill, Curran, Oto, Cape Fair, Reeds 
Springs and Blue Eye. 

COUNTY FINANCES. 
The county is burdened with no indebtedness, and 
the county finances are well managed, and taxatioa 
is low. 



SULLIVAN COUNTY. 



Sullivan County lies in the northern part of the 
State, and is separated from the State of Iowa by 
Putnam County on the north, and is bounded on 
the east by Adair; on the south by Linn, and on 
the west by Grundy and Mercer Counties. 

RAILROAD FACILITIES. 

Sullivan County has two railroads in active oper- 
ation—the Burlington & Southwestern running 
tlirough the county from north to south, the 
northern terminus being Burlington, Iowa — and on 
the south, connecting with the Hannibal & St. 
Joseph Railroad at Laclede, in Linn County. The 
Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Railroad extends from 
Quincy, Illinois, to Milan, the county seat of Sulli- 
van County, which is the present terminus of the 
road ; the last above named road furnishing direct 
communication with all points east. 

SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. 

This county has about one hundred public 
schools, with an efficient force of good teachers, and 
an ample school fund for their support. There are 
about twenty-five churches in the county — nearly 
all the denominations being represented. 

COUNTY FINANCES AND RATE OF TAXATION. 

The county is in a good shape financially, county 
wan-ants being at par, and paid on presentation to 
the treasurer. The rate of taxation is about $1.40 
on the .flOO valuation— this being the total for all 
puriJoses. The indebtedness of the countj- is about 
$80,000- consisting of subscriptions to the capital 
stock of the Burlington & Southwestern Railroad. 

rilYSlCAL FEATURES AND PRODUCTIONS. 

The surface is undulating, but not mountainous 
—about two -fifths of the entire area (414,500 aci-es) 



being timber, the residue being prairie land of a 
fine quality. The timber is chiefly oak (of all 
varieties), hickory, walnut, elm, linn, and cotton- 
wood. The streams are Main Medicine, West 
Locust, Main Locust, East Locust, Yellow Creek, 
and Spring Creek, aU but the last being tributary to 
Grand River— Spring Creek being tributary to the 
Chariton River. In the timber regions, stone of 
excellent quality is found — both sand and limestone 
being of fine quality. 

Coal exists in abundance in this county, but, 
owing to the abundance of timber, has been as yet 
but little developed. Copper, yielding seventy-five 
per cent, of pure metal, has been discovered in sev- 
eral places in the county. 

The various sources of wealth are the grains and 
grasses, horses, mules, horned cattle, sheep, and 
hogs. 

Clover and timothy both yield abundantly, and are 
a sure crop. Blue grass is growing on both the 
timber and prairie commons as the energetic suc- 
cessor, by right of conquest, of the native wild 
grasses. Both rye, wheat and Indian corn yield 
sure and bountiful crops. Oats yield a fine crop, 
fifty bushels to the acre being an ordinary crop. 
Both millet and hungarian grass give good crops. 

Potatoes, both sweet and Irish, cabbages, 
squashes, pumpkins, turnips, artichokes, beans and 
peas all yield sure and abundant crops. 

Apples, pears, cherries, plums, currants, goose- 
beiTies, str.iwberries, raspberries, grapes, and 
nearly all varieties of fruits that grow in temyierate 
climates flourish here. 

STOCK 

are active, healthy and enduring, and immense num- 
bers are annually sold and shipped to the south. 
Mules do well here, and immense numbers are 
annually raised for sale. Sheep do excellently here 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



255 



and are very healthy and are remarkable for fecun- 
dity. Hogs are abundant, and are one of the chief 
sources of wealth to the farmer. Poultry of nearly 
all varieties do well in this county. 

The cattle are of excellent quality, and are raised 
in great numbers ; the cost of raising cattle being 
trifling, as tliere is an abundant grass crop annually 
on the uninclosed prairie lands that furnishes all 
the food they need from the month of April until 
Xovembev of each year. 

VALUE AND QUALITY OF LANDS. 

Excellent improved farming lands can be bought 
at from five to seven dollars per acre, good pasture 
lands at from two to five dollars per acre. Im- 



proTed farms sell now at from seven to eighteen 
dollars per acre, according to quality, improve- 
ments, and location; but all grades of land are 
advancing rapidly. The general quality of the soil 
is a black, sandy loam, varying in depth from two 
to ten feet, and is very productive. 

HEALTH AND MORALS. 

Sullivan County is as healthy if not tlie liealthiest 
county in Missouri (physicians never grow rich in 
this county) ; the general intelligence and good 
morals of the citizens are not surisassed by any 
county in the United States. The population of the 
county is at. the present time (1880) about 17,000. 



TANEY COUNTY. 



Taney County is bounded on the north by Chris- 
tian County, on the east by Ozark County, on the 
south by the State of Arkansas and on the west by 
Stone County. 

THE FACE OF THE COUNTRY 
is very broken and hilly, but interspersed with 
numerous valleys. These valleys are, with a few 
exceptions, small, but are well watered by fine 
streams which pass through them to White River. 
Many fine farms are found in these valleys in a 
high state of cultivation. Upland farms are often 
added to the valley farms, and the combination of 
the two make excellent homes. 

Timber grows in abundance in these valleys, and 
the hills and uplands are covered with a heavy 
growth of excellent timber for fencing and building 
Ijurposes. 

In addition to the valley farms, there are found 
upland and ridge farms. The county in many places 
possesses large tracts of flat land which make good 
homes and the very best of stock farms. 

WATER SUPPLY. 

The streams are numerous in Taney County, and 
afford a good supply of pure water the year round; 
and in addition to this, there is suflicient water- 
power in these streams to supply the demand of 
milling and manufacturing purposes for any number 
who might wish to engage in that business. The 
largest stream is White River, and it traverses its 
serpentine course through the county from west to 
east, and is well stocked with fine fish of many 
different kinds, such as bass, trout, redhorse, pike, 
salmon, drumb, ancf many others. 

White River receives the water of nine tributaries 
from the north and seven from the south. These 
streams are formed by springs that gush out of the 
hills on either side, and cattle and other stock, 
grazing in the large ranges that are found in Taney 
County, never suffer for water. 

THE PRODUCTS OF THE COUNTY 

are wheat, corn, oats, tobacco, cotton and cane. 
The bottoms and valleys produce wheat, corn, cot- 



ton and oats. The uplands wheat, corn, rye, oats 
and tobacco. 

Vegetables, such as potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, 
etc., grow in abundance; and fruit has a natural 
home here. Peaches, apples, cherries, grapes and 
pears are as flue as in any county. The German 
immigrants could in a short time amass quite a 
fortune out of the proceeds of their vineyards, as 
the climate here would be their best friend in grow- 
ing the grape to perfection. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

There is not a county in the State that offers sucb 
inducements to stock-raisers as Taney. The hills 
and uplands are covered with a luxurious growth 
of line and nutritious grass, on which the stock can 
be kept for at least nine months in the year without 
any other food. Sheep, cattle, horses, mules and 
hogs do as well here as they do in the famous " blue 
grass regions " of Central Missouri. 

THE MARKETS 

are not, as yet, of the best character, Springfield 
being the nearest railroad point, and, of course, the 
natural market. The home market, however, is 
very good, and everything that is raised can be sold 
very readily. 

CLIMATE AND HEALTH. 

Health is very good here, with the exception of 
the river bottoms, where the chills and ague prevail 
during the latter part of summer and tlie early fall. 
The climate is delightful in the summer, spring, 
and autunm. The summers are not as hot as one 
would imagine. The summer months of Michigan 
and Pennsylvania are exceedingly more uncom- 
fortable. The winters are not severe ; the weather 
during the winter mouths being rather changeable. 

THE COUNTY SEAT, 

Forsyth, the county seat, is situated on WMte 
River, just below the mouth of Swan Creek. It has 
about three hundred inhabitants, a brick court- 
house, three large mercantile houses, a printing 
office, drug store, a school house. Masonic and 



250 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



Odd Fellows hall; also a good flouring mill, one- 
fourth of a mUe north of Forsyth, on Swan Creek. 

SOCIAL, EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS. 

Society is as good here as in any county situated 
off from railroads and great educational centers. 
School houses are scattered over the county, and 
public schools are taught at least four months in 
in the year. The annual distribution of the State 
fund received from the superintendent of public 
schools for the support of schools, is from ?1,100 to 



$1,400, besides the amount received from the county 
and township funds. The standard of morality is 
good. The people are honest and upright in their 
dealings, all frugal and economical in their mode 
of living, and industrious and energetic. 

The United Brethren, Methodist, Chi-istian and 
Baptist denominations have each their ministers, 
and the church houses are used in common. 

The lands are cheap and a fine choice is olfered 
the immigrant. 



TEXAS COUNTY. 



Texas County, which is situated in the South 
Central part of the State of Missouri, is abundantly 
supplied with pure springs of living water, which 
gush forth from its hillsides and rise from the beds 
of its valleys, the surplus being carried off by its 
numerous water-courses, which flow north, south, 
east and west. 

The principal streams which take their rise in the 
county are ; Big Piney and Roubidoux, which flow 
northerly into the Gasconade ; Big Creek and Jack's 
Fork of Current River, which flows in a southeast- 
erly direction to Black River, and North Fork of 
White River, which rises in the southwestern part 
of the county, and flows in a southerly direction to 
White River, in Arkansas. 

SOIL AND TIMBER. 

jUong the banks of these streams and their nu- 
mei-ous tributaries, which form a perfect net-work 
over the entire surface of the county, may be found 
the deep black soil of the "bottoms," which, in 
their natural state, are generally quite heavily 
timbered with a mixed growth of walnut, sycamore, 
oak, cherry, elm, sugar maple, hackberry and buck- 
eye, or horse-chestnut, with an abundant under- 
growth of wild plum, red bud, pa\\7)aw, spice -wood, 
crab-apple, etc. When put into cultivation, this 
makes the best of land for corn. 

Rising in terraces above the valleys, comes the 
"bench land," or " second bottoms," which have a 
soil of deep clay or sandy loam, and are usually 
covered with black oak, hickory, hazel and sumach. 
These lands are well adapted to general agriculture, 
hut especially to the production of clover and 
grasses of various kinds, for hay and pasturage. 

Above this, again, is found the " ridge land," 
which possesses a soil similar to that of the " bench 
lands," and Is particularly adapted to the produc- 
tion of the different kinds of " small grain," and to 
fruit culture. The timber on the ridges consists 
chiefly of the different varieties of oak, occasionally 
interspersed with hickory, Avhile there are also 
some fine belts of pine extending in different 
directions across the county. 

The largest body of pine in Texas ("ounty, ex- 
tends from the Big Piney, near Houston, in a north- 
easterly dii'cction to the head of Big (^reek and 
Current River, in the eastern part of tlie count)'. 



and thence eastward across Shannon County. 
There is a also a very good belt of Pine timber 
between Jack's Fork and Pine Creek, in the south- 
ern part of the county, while in the southwest, the 
county corners in the edge of a great pine region, 
which extends in a southwesterly direction through 
Howell, Douglass, and Ozark Counties to the State 
line of Arkansas. There are steam saw-miUs 
located in various i^arts of the county, at which 
lumber may be purchased at fi-om seventy-five 
cents to one dollar per hundred feet, and where 
those having timber may dispose of it. Fuel and 
fencing material is more than abundant, as Texas 
is one of the best timbered counties in the State. 

STOCK RANGE. 

These broken lands which are scattered all over 
South Central Missouri, also furnish an excellent 
"stock range" for young cattle, hogs, sheep, mules 
and horses, and save the necessity of enclosed 
pasturage for the spring and summer seasons, and 
afford considerable protection from the storms of 
winter. Over these rocky ridges, and over the sum- 
mits of what have been laid down in our geogra- 
phies as the "Ozark Mountains," which in the winter 
and early spring look sterile and uninviting, the 
grass begins to spring up early in April, and 
by the first of May the hills and valleys are covered 
with a luxuriant coat of green, which envelops 
them thi-oughout the rest of the summer, and until 
browned by the frost of autumn. The fire usually 
sweeps off this pasture range every fall or winter, 
and thus keeps down the small undergrowth of 
weeds and bushes, which would otherwise soon run 
out the grass ; it also keeps the ground so clear that 
persons may ride or drive, almost anywhere they 
wish under the large timber through the forest, 
which presents the appearance of a grand park, 
laid out by the hand of Nature in endless variety of 
design. 

MINERALS. 

In hills and rocky declivities are found the indi- 
cations of rich mineral deposits, which, whenever 
they shall be developed, will probably bring wealth 
to the lucky possessors. Lead and iron have been 
found in various places, the latter chiefly in the cen 
tral and northern parts, and Uie former in the south 
western part of the county,in the vicinity of Moun 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



257 



tain Grove. Silver has been found on Jacks' Fork, 
in the southern part of the county, and, no doubt, 
exists to some extent in other places, though 
whether in paying quantities has not yet been 
ascertained. Chalk has also been found, and there 
are indications of good ziuc ore in certain localities. 

FARMING LANDS. 

It would be difficult to say just what proportion 
of the land in Texas County is adapted to agricul- 
ture, according to the general notions of farming 
lands in this section of the country, but suffice it to 
say that tlie ai-ea now in cultivation might easily be 
doubled, and probably quadrupled, from lands fully 
equal, in everj' respect, to those now in use ; while 
thousands of acres more, on the hillsides and the 
heads of smaller valleys, might be obtained that 
would be much better adapted to general agricul- 
tural purposes, and more accessible, than much of 
the land now cultivated in the other States. 

The central and southeastern parts of the county 
possess the most broken lands ; still many good 
farms have been made in the valleys and on the 
ridges, even in the roughest parts. In the north- 
eastern part, in the vicinity of Licking, is a large 
body of comparatively level land, on which many 
excellent large farms have been made. 

East of Houston, in the vicinity of Raymonds- 
ville, there is a large body of beautiful level and 
fertile land, on which some very line farms have 
been opened out in tlie last ten years. 

Another fine body of farming land is found in the 
southwestern part of the county, and extending 
across the line, into Wright County, in the vicinity 
of Mountain Grove. 

Tlie best farming lands in the county, and those 
under the best state of cultivation, may be pur- 
chased at prices ranging from Ave dollars to ten 
dollars per acre, and unimisroved lands may be ob- 
tained at one dollar to three dollars per acre. Con- 
siderable quantities of government lands are still 
left untouched, in the rougher portions of the county, 
and probably some tracts have been overlooked 
which contain mucli good farming land. 

TOWNS AND VILLAGES. 

Houston, the county seat of Texas, is a flourishing 
little town of about iOO inhabitants, and is situated 
very near the geographical center of the county, on 
a small ci-eek, called Brushey, which is a tributary 
of the Big Piney. The town contains a good steam 
saw and grist mill, four general stores, three drug 
stores, four blacksmith shops, a plow foundry, a 
tannery, a cabinet shop, and other mechanics' 
shops, a good two-story brick court house, a 
neat little franie cliui'ch, and a two -story frame 
school house. It is connected with the " outside 
world" by a daily mail to Rolla, about fifty miles 
distant, on the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway. 

The post-office at Houston is the distributing 
office for a large amount of mail, which goes out on 
different routes to the various offices of this and the 
adjoining counties. There is a daily mail from 
Houston to West Plains, the countj' seat of Howell 
County, and weekly, tri-weekly, or semi-weekly 
mails, to the county seat of nearly all the other ad- 
joining counties. On tliese routes post-offices are 
established, at convenient distances, all over the 
county 



Licking is the oldest town in the county, and con- 
tains about as large a population as Houston. It is 
situated fifteen miles northeast of Houston, on the' 
main route leading to Rolla, and in the midst of a 
fine level tract of country. It contains a steam grist 
mill, two tobacco factories, two frame churches, a 
new two-story frame school house, some half- 
dozen stores, and about the same number of black- 
smith and other work shops. 

There are several otlier thriving towns in the 
county, among which maybe mentioned: Plato, in 
the northwest ; Summerville, twenty miles southeast 
of Houston, and Mountain Grove. Many country 
stores are operated at various points, and are found 
very convenient by the farmer, when not desirous 
of making his purchases in town. 

MINERAL SPRINGS 

have recently been developed in different localities 
of the county, and enterprising citizens witli capital 
have erected hotels and bathing establishments for 
the benefit of invalids seeking relief. 

CLIMATE. 

The county is not subject to extreme heat, like 
ine lowlands along the large rivers, nor to the cold 
..ustering winds which sweep over the prairies of 
Kansas. Snow scarcely ever falls to a greater 
depth than from two to four inches, and generally 
melts within a few days. During some winters 
scarcely any snow is seen, and farmers may con- 
tinue plowing throughout the entire season. This 
is the best time for breaking new land, and oats is 
generally sown in February or early in March. 

PRODUCTIONS. 

The products of this part of Missouri are probably 
as varied as tliose of any other section of the Union. 
The natural productions consist of plums, chei-ries, 
grapes, paw^jaws, persimmons, crab-apples, iiuckle- 
berries, strawberries, blackberries, gooseberries, 
and various other kinds of small fruits, besides 
walnuts, hickorynuts, butternuts, hazlenuts, acorp j, 
and a luxuriant growth of grass and timber, ire- 
quently tliere is a sufficient quantity of " mast," 
consisting of acorns and various kinds of nuts and 
tree seeds, to fatten nearly all of the pork of the 
county, besides wintering all of the " stock liogs," 
with scarcely the necessity of feeding any corn. 

As before stated, tlie wild grass is sufficient to 
furnish pasturage for a large part of the year for all 
stock which is not required to be kept up for work 
and other purposes. In many places it grows so 
rapidly that a good crop of hay may be obtained, 
even on the range where the stock have been 
allowed to graze. This statement may at lirst ap- 
pear unreasonable, but when it is considered that 
there are twenty or thirty acres of land to every 
domestic animal on the range, it will not seem so 
strange. 

More attention lias always been given to the rais- 
ing of cattle and hogs than to any other kind of 
stock in this county, but there is no doubt that the 
wliole of this section of the State is better adapted 
to sheep culture than anything else. Sheep, as well 
as all other kinds of stock, are healthy here, and, 
so far as they have been tried, they do remarkably 
well. Lai-ge quantities of tobacco are raised and 
some cotton. 



258 



Hand-Book of Missouki. 



Fruit does well, especially on the highlands. 
Apple trees g;ro\y as rapidly, and the fruit matures 
as welJ as in higher latitudes. Peaches scarcely 
ever fail in the vicinity of Licking and Mountain 
Grove, while, many seasons, they do well on the 
lower ground. Plums, pears, apricots, and other 
fruits succeed, and grapes grow luxuriantly. Sev- 
eral large vineyards have been established with an 
annual proflt. 

Wheat, corn, oats, millet, clover, timothy, beans, 
peas, potatoes, and, in fact, all garden vegetables, 
are certain of producing finely. 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION. 

Missouri has a veiy good public school system, 
and her schools will compare very favorably with 
those of many of the States east of the Mississippi. 
It is sometimes necessary for students to go a longer 
distance to school than in the older and more 
thickly settled States, but in Texas County the Con- 
gressional townships are all divided into from two 
to five districts each, making a total of nearly one 
hundred school districts in the county, most of 
which have at least four months' school per year. 
Besides public schools, there are several acade- 
mies or graded schools in the (ounty, or near 
enough to be convenient for those wlio wish to con- 
tinue their education beyond what is provided by 
the public school system. 



RAILKOADS. 

There are no railroads yet built within the limits 
of Texas County, but, witli the present revival of 
business, there is a strong probability of the con- 
struction of two roads, if not more, at some time in 
the near future. There is, however, no difficulty in 
finding a quick market for farm produce. 

PRICE OF LANDS. 

The immigrant will be able to find lands for sale 
iu this county at almost any px-ice, according to 
location and improvements. 

FINANCIAL. 

The county finances have been excellently man 
aged, and taxes are low. 

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS. 

The old settlers here and most of those who come 
in from otlier places, are a plain, honest, substantial 
kind of people, who dress in homespun, and are 
slow to adopt the new notions and labor-saving 
machinery introduced by their Northern neigh- 
bors. Many of them are very strict church mem- 
bers, representing, of course, all the various shades 
of religious belief, among which the Christian 
(Campbellite), Baptist, Methodist, and Presby- 
terian denominations predominate. Church socie- 
ties are organized iu nearly every school district, 
and preachers abound everywhere, 



VERNON COUNTY. 



Vernon County forms a portion of what is known 
as Southwest Missouri. It contains 838 square 
miles, and is bounded on the north by Bates County ; 
on the east by Cedar and St. Clair ; on the south by 
Barton, and on the west by the State of Kansas. 

PHYSICAL CHARACTER. 
Tlie wliole surface of the county is rolling and 
undulating, with occasional irregular mounds rising 
above the general level of the country. It has about 
one -fifth timber to four-fifths prairie. The water- 
courses are remarkably well distri)uted over the 
county. The bottoms of the larger streams are' 
generally wide. The prairies are small, so that it is 
almost impossible for any one to locate over three 
or four miles from timber. 

CLIMATE AND HEALTH. 

The climate is genial, as the latitude indicates 
Tlie winters are mild and short, and the snow-fall 
is always light and remaining only a day or so. The 
heat of the summers is not oppressive, as a refresh- 
ing breeze prevails. The county is noted for its gen- 
eral healthfulness, as there arc absolutely no local 
causes foi- disease. 

TIMBEll Sliri'LV. 

Tliose who are umler the impression that the 
county is mostly i>r:iiric, will 1)(^ surprised at the 
large amount ol' lino linilier. 'I'ho varieties are 



burr, white, red, black, post and water oak; elm, 
sycamore, white and yellow cotton-wood, black 
walnut, white, black, and shell-bark hickory, pecan, 
pignut, birch, maple, wild cherry, hackberry, linn, 
mull>erry, box-elder, cofltee-bean, and many smaller 
varieties. The timber on the principal water- 
courses and on some uplands is well grown and of 
excellent quality. As a rule, however, the upland 
timber is scruljby, and does not amount to much for 
anything, save firewood. 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 

Immense beds of coal underlie the entire county, 
and is now being mined extensively; the veins are 
from eigliteen inches to seven feet in thickness. 
There is scarcely a section of land on which coal 
may not be found, in greater or lesser quantities. 
Pi-of. G. C. Broadhead, State Geologist, in his geo- 
logical survey of the State for the years 1873 and 
1874, estimated that there are 2,6.50,816,2.50 tons of 
coal in the county. This enormous coal field prom- 
ises a sure source of wealth, when competing lines 
of railroads shall bring cheap transportation within 
reach. 

Iron ore is found iu various localities, but to what 
extent it exists, is at present unknown. Gypsum 
exists in considerable quantities, and will be valu- 
able to mix with such soils as are delicient in lime. 
Some traces of lead and carbonate of lead have 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



259 



■been discovered. There is plenty of Are clay, and 
stone for lime and hydraulic lime. 

There is an immense bed of potters' clay in Coal 
township, from which the Deerfield Pottery is sup- 
plied. It makes excellent earthenware, such as 
crocks, jugs, drain-tile, flower vases, fi-uit jars, etc. 

Sandstone affords the best building material. 
Good quarries are now opened in various parts of 
the county. Excellent grit for grind-stones and 
coarse whet-stones is found in abundance on Clear 
Creek, and has already been made quite an article 
of export. Prof. Broadhead, in his Geological Re- 
port of the county, also expresses his belief that this 
article alone •' may in the future be a valuable 
source of revenue to the inhabitants." There are in 
several localities, both grey and black marble which 
are said to be susceptible of very high polish. 

There are mineral springs, for which m.any virtues 
are claimed, in several sections of the county. 

SOILS AND PRODUCTS. 

In Vernon can -be found almost every variety of 
soil, from the poor sandy to the rich black loam and 
limestone. The stream bottoms, which are wide, 
are rich and very productive. The soil on the 
mounds and along their slopes may be considered 
the richest uplands. Persons fancying any par- 
ticular grade of soil can be suited. The lightest 
sandy soil produces extraoi'dinarily well when the 
seasons are suitable, Init in dry years cannot be 
depended upon. 

This section of the country is not as well adapted 
to corn raising as the prairies of Illinois, or the rich 
alluvial bottoms of the larger rivers ; but the lands, 
with proper cultivation, yield from fifty to sixty 
bushels per acre. It can be made a paying crop. 
A large amount of corn is raised in the county 
every year, some farmers raising as high as 100,000 
bushels. In dry years the crop is cut short. 

This county is well adapted to wheat; in fact, 
the culture of small grain meets with much better 
success than corn. For a few years past the 
chinch-bugs have made sad havoc with wheat in 
this section, but now the country is almost entirely 
free from this pest, and it is a great satisfaction to 
know that they make their visitations only at long 
intervals. A large number of acres in this county 
are now in wheat, and all looking very promising. 
Wheat is generally plump and full, and of tlie average 
weight. Wheat growers need not be afraid to give 
Vernon a trial. 

Oats usually do well, and every farmer calculates 
on sowing more or less. 

Barley has not been tried to any great extent, 
but what has been sown, turned out so as to justify 
the opinion that it can be made a profitable crop. 

Tobacco culture has been strangely neglected, for 
it does extremely well, having fine growth and good 
flavor. 

Sorghum is cultivated by almost every farmer for 
home use, and may be depended on as a crop. Veg- 
etables of every character and description are 
gi'own here successfully. 

FRUITS. 

By common consent this portion of Missouri is an 

acknowledged fruit country. The dry atmosphere, 

coupled with the genial climate, and extraordinary 

absorbing or drying power of the winds, and the 



essential ingredients of the soil, all unite to make 
fruit culture, in this county and section, a successful 
industry. 

STOCK-RAISING 

is decidedly a profitable business, and one from 
which many of the citizens derive their greatest 
income. This is decidedly a grazing country. 
Thousands and thousands of acres are unfenced, 
and will be for years. This almost unlimited range 
produces abundance of wild grass, and furnishes 
free pasturage for all. Not only this, but a winter's 
supply of hay can always be procured at the simple 
cost of cutting, curing and stacking. Tame grasses 
can be grown with success, but at present farmers 
can do better, they think, than attempt their growth. 
Cattle, as well as horses and mules, can be raised 
with very little ex^jense. The winters are not 
sufficiently rigorous to demand shelter for them, and 
with a fair amount of prairie hay, they get along very 
well. According to the statement of the Missouri, 
Kansas & Texas Railroad authorities, the shipments 
of live stock from ^■ernull County for the year 1879, 
amounted to nine luindrcd and eighty-four cars; 
other modes of shipment are not included. 

Sheep husbandry ought to prove remunerative, 
with the excellent advantages this county affords; 
and it is believed that this Ijranch of industry is 
increasing. 

Hogs can be easily raised on (lie prairies, and are 
always in good demand. 

SCHOOLS. 

The schools of Vernon County arc in admirable 
condition. The State and County public school 
fund is ample, and is looked after closely. Every 
neighborhood has its school, and a great spirit of 
rivalry has existed in the various school districts, 
in the matter of erecting elegant and commodious 
school buildings. In the county there are 11'2 school 
districts, and 108 school houses. After a district 
hiis erected and yiaid for its school house, but little 
money has to )je raised by taxation, outside of the 
public funds, to keep the school running. It is 
believed that nearly all of the scliool houses in the 
county are paid for.. The county has a school fund 
of ."^80,000, which is gradually increasing. 

PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS. 

The County is isrovided with a flue Court House, 
centrally situated in Nevada, which cost something 
like $30,000, and is paid for; also, a splendid jaU 
and residence for the sheriff. Several magnificent 
bridges of wood or iron, span the ])rincipal streams, 
on the most public crossings. 

RAILROADS. 

The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway is already 
in operation, I'unning diagonally through the county, 
with depots at Schell City, Walker, Nevada, Ellis 
Station, Deerfield and Clayton. It does an immense 
business, and brings the people of the county in 
connection with the commercial centers of the 
country. The Laclede & Fort Scott Railroad is a 
chartered projected route, which runs through the 
county, east and west, on which a considerable 
amount of work has already been done. This line 
will, without doubt, be built in due course of time. 
The Lexington & Southern Railroad is another pro- 



260 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



jectecl line, which will run through the county, 
north and south. On this route a large amount of 
work has been done, and it will soon reach Nevada. 

PRINCIPAL TOWNS. 

The principal town in Vernon County is Nevada, 
the county seat, which has a population of 2,500. 
This town is a prosperous business point on the 
Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, and possesses 
many social and commercial advantages. The other 
towns, all located in good farming districts, and 
rapidly building up in importance, are: Schell City, 
"Walker, Montevello, Virgil City, Little Osage or 
Ball Town, Metz, Deerfield, Clayton, Moundville, 



Saidstone, Avola, Drywood, Warwick, Duncan 
Cieek, Carbon Creek and Ellis Station. 

VALUE OF LAND. 

The unimproved lands can be had at from four to 
ten dollars per acre, prices varying according to 
quality and distance from railroad stations. The 
improved lands vary in price, according to the 
amount and value of improvements. Now is an 
excellent time to invest in real estate of every 
character. The recent pressure in financial matters 
and business energies of the country has had the 
effect to bring the price of real estate, in this 
county, down to the lowest possible figures. 



WARREN COUNTY. 



Warren County is situated on the north bank of 
the Missoui-i River, about sixty miles by its winding 
course from its confluence with the Mississippi. 
The latter stream, at the mouth of the Cuivre River, 
approaches to within twenty miles of the northeast- 
ei'n corner of the county, and from thence flows in 
a tortuous course a little southeast, a distance of 
some forty miles, to where it joins the Missouri. 
Its area is 400 miles square. The northern portion 
of Warren County is drained by Camp Creek and 
Camp Branch (of Big Creek), Big Creek, Indian 
Camp Creek, tributaries of the Cuivre River, and 
Peruque and Dardenne creeks. The southern por- 
tion is drained by Bear Creek, Massees Creek, 
Smith's Creek, Tuque and Lake creeks. The waters 
of the north side flow an average distance of about 
thirty miles to the Mississippi, while on tlie south 
side the length of flow does not average more than 
ten miles. The line dividing the nortliern from the 
southern water-flow traverses the county in a very 
irregular, but generally soutl eastern course, and 
is nearly coincident throughout its whole distance 
with the line dividing the prairie lands from the 
timber lands proper. All of the south side of the 
county, from the Missouri River to the summit of 
the dividing ridge, with small exception, was orig- 
inally covered with forest, very dense and heavy, as 
the river was approached ; becoming more sparse 
and of less thrifty growth on the ridges, where, when 
exposed to the fires that annually swept over the 
prairies, all timber not protected by water courses 
was destroyed. The northern portion of the county, 
comprising about one -third. of its area, and about 
one- half of its tillable surface, is called the prairie, 
and is interspersed with groves and belts of timber 
along its streams, equal, almost, in extent to the 
prairie proper. This prairie country is beautifully 
undulating, and the fringes of forest skirting the 
heads of the streams, and extending out into the 
prairie lands, now nearly all in cultivation, and 
dotti.d with comfortable, substantial farm houses, 
contribute backgroiind to as delightful landscape 
pictures as could be dbsired. 

Nearly the whole of this northern portion of the 
county is susceptible of cultivation. The soil of 
the prairies is adavted to corn, oats, i-ye and, in 



some portions of it, wheat, grapes, sorghum, broom 
corn, and, with proper fertilizing, tobacco. The soil 
of the timber lands are recognized, however, as bet- 
ter adapted to the growth of wheat, tobacco, pota- 
toes, and turnips. In the creek bottoms, of which 
character there is a large area in this portion of the 
county, all of the before named crops grow luxuri- 
antly. The southern side of the county furnishes 
the greatest diversity of soil, from the summits of 
the narrow ridges to the rich, deep and inexhausti- 
ble alluvium of the Missouri bottoms, and there is an 
equal diversity of physical conformation. These 
beautiful hills and valleys are almost entirely sub- 
jected to the plow, and yield such annual harvests 
as makes the husbandman rejoice. The " bluff " for- 
mation characterizes the belt lying between the 
river bottom and the hills, still covered by the 
"drift;" and on the line ofdivision are found, very 
frequently, the denuded rocks that have for ages 
past, and will for ages to come, resist the erosive 
forces that were cut down and carried away, to form 
the floor of future continents, all of that vast pile, 
once lying contiguous and filling up the space, miles 
in width, between the opposite bluffs of the great 
river. 

THE MISSOURI BOTTOM. 

This level belt of land has an average width of 
about two a*\d a half miles, and extends the whole 
length of the county and State. Once covered with 
forests of immense growth, it is now nearly all in 
cultivation, and produces corn in the greatest lux- 
uriance, and is especially adapted to the growth of 
hemp and all other crops that flourish in alluvial 
soils. Wheat does well here also, but the bluff is 
regarded as the especial soil for the perfection of 
this cereal. Tobacco flourishes on the lands near 
the river bottom, and along the creek valleys 
adjacent. 

VALUE OF LANDS. 

The actual value of lands in Warren County 
ranges from as low as one or two dollars for the 
most broken and poorest soils, to seventy- five dol* 
lars per acre, and perhaps even more, for the best 
located river and bluff farms. Good farms can be pui» 
chased for from ten to twenty-five dollars per acre 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



261 



in the prairie ; aud timber lands, susceptible of being 
made into good farms, somewliat brolicn; but such 
as would be thought level enough in some coun- 
tries, can be bought at from four to eight dollars 
per acre. This class of lands offers real induce - 
nients to persons of limited means, wishing to en 
gage in farming at a small expense for beginning. 

MARKETS. 

The proximity to markets makes farming profit- 
able. Small fruits, poultry and eggs, vegetables, and 
all that class of products, which are enhanced in 
value I)y being placed on the market in the freshest 
condition, can here be produced profitably. The 
facilities for reaching the market consists in the 
Missouri River, by which much of the grain is sent 
to St. Louis from the southern portion ; the Missouri 
Pacific, traversing the south bank of the river the 
Whole length of the county, and the Wabash, St. 
Louis & Pacific Railway, running through the north- 
ern portion. The distance from Wai'renton, the 
■Jounty seat, through which the latter road runs, to 
St. Louis, is fifty-eight miles. An accommodation 
train is run on this road, which leaves Warrenton 
in the morning and returns in the evening, by 
means of which persons having business can spend 
some six hours in the city. 

TIMBER AND BUILDING STONE. 

For building purposes the county is well sup- 
plied witli most of the materials requisite. Oak of 
many varieties abounds; sycamore, cotton-wood, 
and hackberry are found adjacent to the water- 
courses in all parts of the county. Hickory is found 
from the highest elevations crowning the dividing 
ridge, and in the groves that skirt the prairies and 
mark the water-courses on the northern slope, to 
the Missouri River on the south. The sugar- tree is 
also found growing luxuriantly in the deeper 
valleys ; the white and soft maple, the elm, and the 
birch are also found in abundance on the bottom 
lands ; and in this connection may be mentioned the 
osage orange or bois d'arc. Tliis tree is grown as 
a hedge plant, and is rapidl}' superceding the rail 
fence, making a practically indestructible fence, 
and one which, when j)roperly cared for, not only 
serves the purpose of a perfect enclosure, but 
contributes very greatly to the picturesqueness of 
the landscape. This tree grows thriftily and has 
the reputation of being an excellent timber for 
many purposes, and will, no doubt, be cultivated 
for \ise in manufacturing, before many years. 

An excellent quality of clay for the manufacture 
of brick, and good sand are found distributed 
throughout the county, and lime of the finest 
quality, in inexhaustible quantity, abounds. Lime- 
stone furnishes excellent building rock, is easily 
quarried and accessible. 

MANUFACTURING. 

There are a number of good flouring mills in the 
county, but the facilities for manufacturing and 
shipping, and the great quantity of superior wheat 
produced, especially in the southern part, would 
justify a much greater investment of capital in that 
industry. There is one manufactory, now carried 



on in tlie county, where steam power is used ; this 
is located at Marthasville, the product consisting of 
almost anything tliat caij be made from lumber, 
especially the hard woods; cogs for mill gearing, 
and the parts used for carrying the flour in bolting 
chests, brush blocks, etc., are among the articles 
produced. 

There are several wagonmaking establishments in 
which the work is done mostly by hand. This is 
another branch of manufacturing that will, without 
doubt, be profitable. All of the agricultural ma- 
chinery is imported, although the native forests 
furnish the best quality of timber for the manufac- 
ture of it at home. It is not claimed that the streams 
furnish desirable water-power, but stone coal is 
abundant on tlie line of the railroad, and is delivered 
at a low rate at the depots. Coal has also been dis- 
covered in the county. The facilities for manufac- 
turing, indeed, are equal to, and greatly exceed, 
those of many places where it is carried on exten- 
sively. Capital and enterprise, only, are wanted. 
The market is made ; the demand for the products 
already exists. 

In addition to the coal mentioned, there has been 
discovered, among the minerals, fire-clay and 
marble ; aud, recently, indications of lead and silver 
ores, in the southeastern portion of the county. 
Sandstone is also abundant on the southern slope, 
and in the region of the bluff formation. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

The county is well supplied with educational 
facilities, there being over sixty school houses in 
which public schools are taught, besides a college at 
"Warrenton, conducted by the German Methodist 
denomination, which has come to be well recognized 
as a first-class school. The school fund of the State 
furnishes about seventy-five cents per capita to- 
wards paying the tuition of the jiupils. There is 
also a county and township fund, which, when 
added to the State fund, leaves a deficiency recjuir- 
ing a tax levy of about fifty cents on the hundred 
dollars' valuation, in order to maintain schools from 
four to eight months in the year. The whole amount 
of State, county and school taxes is less than two 
per cent, on tlie hundred dollars. The county has 
a debt of only $S,000, which is held for the benefit of 
the school fund. 

CLIMATE AND HEALTH. 

Wan-en County enjoys an exemption from disease 
equal to any in the State, which, as a whole, ranks 
with any in the Union, in healthfulness. It is, 
moreover, much less exposed to storms of wind 
than many localities unjirotected by forests, or in- 
fluenced by other causes peculiar to their physical 
conformation. No climate can excel that of Warren 
County for uniformity of temperature, and, at the 
same time, contribute that variety essential to make 
life most enjoyable, by giving vigor and tone to tlie 
system. The county is in the western and northern 
boundaries of the belt, having next to tlie largest 
rain-fall — forty inches, annually. The aveitige for 
the county would be, therefore, about thirty-eight 
inclies. 



262 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



WASHINGTON COUNTY. 



"Washington County is located in Southeast Mis- 
souri, fifty miles .jouth of St. Louis and forty west of 
the Mississippi River. Was organized, August 21, 
1813. Total area, l.W.see acres; two-thirds tillable, 
one-fourth valley and bottom lands ; 25,000 acres of 
mineral and 3.5,000 acres pine lands in cultivation. 
Census (1870) , .38,650. 

SURFACE, CLIMATE, AND SOIL. 

The surface is broken and hilly. Climate, mild 
and healthful. The soil of the valley and bottom 
lands is a rich black loam ; fine for corn and grasses. 
The uplands are a clay loam, superior for wheat, 
grass, oats, tobacco, fruit, etc. 

The mineral lands are not valuable for their min- 
eral alone, but much of it is superior farming land, 
covered with heavy timber, and held at from five to 
thirty dollars per acre. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

The pine lands are the shepherd's paradise. 
Covered with a luxuriant growth of natural grass, 
and abounding with numerous never-failing springs 
and streams, thousands of cattle and sheep can be 
pastured upon them, for centuries to come, from 
eight to ten months in the year. These lands are 
also excellent for meadows and dairy purposes. 
They are held at from one to five dollars per acre. 
TIMBER. 

There are also large bodies of fine timbered lands 
(suitable for manufacturing purposes), of pine, oak, 
hickory, elm, ash, maple, sycamore, walnut, mul- 
berry, etc., which can be l^ought for one to ten dol- 
lars per acre; convenient also to water-power and 
shipping points. 

MINERAL RESOURCES. 

The minerals are lead, iron, zinc, tiff, clays, etc., 
which are located in all parts of the county, and 
give employment to half of the population, and 
furnish a home market for the greater part of 
the farm product; also, for lumber, wood, char- 
coal, etc. 

THE WATER- POWER 

of this county is not surpassed by that of any other 
county. There are,within its borders, fifteen streams, 
affording water - power ; also, numerous springs, 
which furnish sufficient water for ordinary milling. 
The altitude of the county is so great (1,100 feet 
above St. Louis), that the power of these streams 
can be multiplied many times. 

THE MANUFACTURING INTERESTS 

consists of nineteen lead furnaces, twelve grist 
mills, ten saw mills, two iron furnaces, one zinc 
furnace, one steam mercliants' mill, two tanneries, 
one cheese factory, two tiff mills, and six carding 
machines, which are all doing a paying business, 
with a few exceptions. 



POPULATION AND SCHOOL FUND. 

(Census 1870) 11,719; children, 4,707; scliool fund, 
$35,684; number of schools, sixty-eight — five colored; 
rate of taxation, fifty cents on one hundred dollars. 

FINANCIAL. 

The county has no debt of any kind ; has $3,000 in 
the treasury, and a claim of $22,000 against the Iron 
Mountain Railroad for back taxes. The court 
house and jail are substantial brick buildings. 

RAILROADS. 

There are twenty-four miles of i-ailroad traversing 
the eastern border, having eight shipping points, at 
one of which were loaded and unloaded 1,231 cars 
of bulk freight in 1878'. 

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS. 

One college is located in the town of Caledonia, 
nine miles from the railroad, and is surrounded by 
an industrious and moral farming community. 
The society is good. The first settlers were from 
Kentucky and Virginia, and are thrifty and law- 
abiding citizens. The county is Democratic by two 
hundred majority. The laws are enforced and 
obeyed, the records will show as little crime, if not 
less, than those of any county having as large a 
floating population. There are thirty churches, of 
the following denominations: Catliolic, Baptist, 
Presbyterian, ^lethodist— North and South. 

MARKETS. 

St. Louis, and sometimes the South, affords the 
markets, l)ut, with the exception of a few staple 
articles, the home market is equal and often superior 
to the St. Louis market. That is one of the strong 
l>oints. 

produ(;tion. 

The products of the farm are cattle, hogs, mules, 
sheep, wheat, corn, onts, liay and potatoes. Wheat 
produces ten to thirty bushels, corn, twenty to 
thirty bushels, oats, twenly to fifty bushels, potatoes, 
fifty to one hundred and fifty bushels per acre; 
timothy, one hundred and sixty-two and one-half 
tons, clover, two hundred and sixty-four tons per 
acre, varying as to culture and season. The monied 
value of the ci-ops per acre is greater than that of 
the richer agricultural counties. The shipments for 
1879, were 14,462,042 pounds lead ; zinc, fifty-one cars ; 
tiff, two hundred and sixty-seven cars ; wheat, eighty 
cars; cattle, twenty-five hundred head ; mules and 
horses, two hundred and seventy-five head; hogs, 
forty cars. 

PRICE OF LANDS. 

Unimproved property is held at one to fifteen 
dollars ; improved at five to thirty dollars per acre, 
according to location and improvements. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



263 



WAYNE COUNTY. 



Wayne County is situated in Southeast Missouri, 
and is bounded on the north by Iron and Madison 
Counties ; on the east by Bollinger and Stoddard 
Counties ; on the south by Butler and Ripley Coun- 
ties, and on the west by Carter and Reynolds Coun- 
ties. 

RAILROAD FACILITIES. 

The St. Louis, Ii'on Mountain & Southern Rail- 
way passes through the western part of the county, 
from the northern to the southern limits, a distance 
of nearly forty miles. 

POPULATION, ETC. 

The population in 1880, was about ten thousand. 
The County was settled originally by immigrants 
from Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and North 
Carolina, but since 1860, it has received a large 
accession to its ijopulation from the Northern and 
Eastern States, the British Isles and Europe. 

SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL. 

The laws are strictly enforced, property rights 
respected, and excellent public schools exist in 
every township in the county. 

CLIMATE. 

The winter season is short, and the (Climate is 
mild and salubrious. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

The surface of the country is broken. The many 
hills and mountains throughout the county, shelter 
from the winters' blast, wide, fertile, and beautiful 
valleys, and during the spring, summer and autumn, 
afford luxuriant pasture for thousands of horses, 
cattle and sheep, and during the autumn and 
winter of each year, thousands of hogs are fattened 
and marketed from no other source than that which 
natui-e affords and supplies — acorns and hickory 
nuts. 

SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 

The land is chiefly limestone, and what is known 
in the Eastern States as " gravelly" — is'liighly pro- 
ductive, and yields, with indifferent cultivation, 
bountiful crops of corn, wheat, oats, rye, tobacco, 
and the various grasses, and all kinds of fruit 
usually grown in this latitude, such as apples. 



peaches, pears, plums, cherries, grapes, etc., and 
all kinds of vegetables. 

THE PRICE OF LAND. 

Land is low, and within the reach of any man who 
is honest and industrious, and the aid of a generous 
and large hearted people will be extended to all who 
come to this favored country, with the purpose and 
intention of making it their home, and aiding, by 
their means, or by their muscle, in the development 
of its vast and varied resources. 

MINERALS. 
Ii-on — l)lue specular, brown hematite and red 
oxide — exists in the county in large quantities, and 
its manufacture will soon develop into vast pro- 
portions within the limits of the county. Other 
minerals are known to exist in the county, but to 
what extent has not yet been demonstrated. 



is practically inexhaustible, consisting chiefly of 
yellow pine, white oak, ash, hickory, black walnut, 
and other hard wood, common to the Ozark range. 

WATER AND WATER-POWER 

is abundant. Black River, a large, clear stream, 
flows through the western part of the county, from 
north to south; St. Francois River, a fine, clear 
stream, flows through the cen-ti-al portion of the 
county. These streams, with Castor River on the 
eastern boundary of the county, receive many large 
tributaries, which take their source in Wayne 
County, water all the valleys, and flow into the 
sevei-al principal streams above mentioned. 

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES. 
At Piedmont, a thriving, prosperous town of 1,200 
inhabitants, on the Iron Mountain Railway, 127 
miles- south of St. Louis, in the center of a district 
more than 100 miles square, which is directly and 
necessarily tributary to it as a trading point, is now 
needed, tanneries, agricultural implement manu- 
factories, woolen and cotton factories, harness fac- 
tories, shoe and boot factories, iron furnaces, and 
other productive industries— each and all of which 
will be liberally supported and made self-sustain- 
ing by the local and foi-eign demand for their pro. 
ducts. 



WEBSTER COUNTY. 



Webster County organized in 1855, is situated in the 
southwestern part of the State, in 37^ 15' north lat- 
itude, and 15'' 45' west longitude from Washington. 
It is bounded on the north by Laclede and Dallas 
Counties, east by AVright, south by Christian and 
Douglass, and west by Greene; and has an area of 
380,000 acres, end a population of some 15,000 inhab- 
itants. 



PHYSICAL FEATURES AND STREAMS. 

The county is partially prairie, the balance well 
timbered, some of it broken and hilly, but the 
greater part susceptible of cultivation. 

In the southeastei-n portion of the county the 
Niangua and Osage fork of the Gasconade, find 
their source. The streams run through, the entire 



264 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



length of the count}% from twenty to thii-ty feet 
wide, two to eight feet deep, and a current of three 
mile.s an hour. The James and Finley Rivers also 
rise in the southeast, and traverse the entire width 
of the county, running in a western and south- 
western direction, from twenty to forty feet wide, 
witli a cun-ent of from two and a lialf to tliree miles 
per hour. The Pomme De Terre liiver rises in a 
large si)ring in Pleasant Prairie, one mile west of 
the county seat, runs six miles west, then north 
west tlirough the county. The numerous tribu- 
taries of these streams furnish an abundance of 
water for stock and manufacturing purposes, while 
never-failing springs of purest water may be found 
on almost every quarter section in the county. 

CLIMATE AND HEALTH. 

The climate is genial, as the latitude indicates. 
The winters are very mild, as compared with North- 
ern Pennsylvania, Ohio or Indiana. The thermom- 
eter seldom falls below zero, and cold weather lasts 
but a few days at a time. But little snow falls, 
which remains on the ground but a short time. 
Tliere is a pi-&valent '*iapression in most of the 
Northern States tliat tiv_ weather in this part of the 
State is extremely warm in summer; certainly, 
such is not the case in this county. Situated, as it 
is, some 1,50G eet above the sea level, on the elevated 
table lauds of the Ozark range, the summers are 
always pleasant and the nights delightfully cool. 
The air is dry, pure and bracing, which, with the 
purity of the water, makes the county noted for its; 
remarkable healthfulness. Consumption and other 
lung complaints never originate here, and many of 
the emigrants from the cold, damp countries farther 
north, are gi-eatly benefited in health by the change. 

SOIL AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS. 

There can be found in this countv almost every 
variety of soil, from the poorest post oak flat to the 
rich, black loam and limestone. The bottom lands 
are rich and very productive, but second to no lands 
in the county is Avhat is called the " barrens." It is 
upland, but covered with a growth peculiar to bot- 
tom lands, and is equally as productive as the 
bottom lands. All the products of the soil grown in 
the States farther North, are produced here in 
abundarce, including many of the semi-tropical 
productions. Tobacco, of the very finest quality, is 
grown in larger quantities than in any county of 
Southwest Missouri. Grasses of all kinds do well. 
Since the county has been put in communication 
with the markets of the world, considerable atten- 
tion has been paid to wheat-raising, to which this 
soil seems peculiarly adapted. In many instances, 
several crops of winter wheat have been grown on 
the same ground with an ever increasing yield. A 
failure of the staple crops from drouth, grasshop- 
pers, or any other cause, has never been known to 
the oldest inhabitants. 

(ireat attention is being paid to the cultivation of 
fruits; all kinds do well. Apples, peaches, pears, 
cherries, plums and apricots grow large, have a 
fine flavor, and yield ahnndaiilly. Orchards of 
apples and peaches are being put out on nearly 
every farm, and those planting, arc securing the 
best improved varieties. There arc several vine- 
yards in the county, and grape culture would be a 
most profitable industry. 



STOCK-RAISING WOOL-GROWING, DAIRY- 
ING, ETC. 

No part of the United States offers greater advan- 
tages to the stock-raiser than this county. The 
mild winters, the great amount of unfenced land, 
which is covered with the most nutritious grasses, 
the abundance of fine stock-water everywhere ac- 
cessible, the shelter of timber, all combine to make 
this the stock-raiser's paradise. Thousands of fat 
cattle are driven or shipped to market every fall 
from the range without any extra feed. In the last 
few years the character of horses, cattle, sheep and 
hogs have evinced a very marked improvement, 
owing to the introduction and importation of blooded 
stock. Almost every farmer keejis a small flock of 
sheep, and it has been demonstrated that in but 
few localities can wool be produced so cheaply as 
here. Foot-rot, scab and other diseases common to 
the older States are unknown here. 

Much attention is given to mule -raising, and large 
numbers are driven, annually, to the Southern 
markets, where they find a ready sale at highly 
remunerative prices. Twelve hundred mules and 
horses were driven South in the fall of 1879. 

Very little attention has been given, as yet, to 
dairying; but there is every facility for making the 
business very profitable. 

TIMBER, STONE, ETC. 

Taere are very heavy growths of timber on all tht 
bt^jom lands, consisting, principally, of ash, lindeik, 
J*"'ckeye, box-elder, sycamore, cotton-wood, elm, 
honey lu ,'^st, hackberry, hit kory, black and white 
walnut, red uud, maple, mulberry, burr, white, red 
and pin oak and pawpaw; while the uplands have 
white chestnut and black oak, common and bla(;k 
hickory and dogwood. 

There is an abundance of good building stone in 
all parts of the county, the varieties being sand- 
stone, limestone, and cotton-rock. There are large 
forests of pine, within a day's drive, to the south, 
which makes the supply of ))ine lumber abundant, 
and very reasonable in price. Brick, of good quality, 
can be made wherever needed. 

MINERALS. 

LeaU and, zinc are found in all parts of the county. 
Pi-ior to the war. Governor McClurg worked the 
Hazlewood Lead :Mines, situated in the southeastern 
portion of the county, with profit, taking out large 
quantities of lead. Since the war, the Hazlewood, 
Seligman, Trusty, Davis, Lee, and other mines, 
have been worked considerably, but the price of 
mineral was so low that it did not justify putting in 
the proper machinery. All that these mines need 
is capital and skill to develop a bountiful source of 
wealth. 

RAILROADS. 

The St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad passes 
through the county, from east to west, some twenty- 
five miles of the road being ia the county. The 
money has already been raised to pay for a survey 
through the county, from north to south, of the 
Sedalia, Warsaw & Memphis Railroad. It is pro 
posed that this road shall enter the county on the 
north center, and run south, crossing the St. Louis 
& San Francisco Railroad at Marshliekl, the county 
seat. 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



2'65 



PRICE OF LANDS. 

There are about 250,000 acres of land entered and 
subject to taxation. Improved lands can be bought 
at fi-om Ave to twenty dollars per acre. There are 
some 78,000 acres of railroad land, which can be pur- 
chased on seven years' time, at from two to eight 
dollars per acre, M'ith seven per cent, interest. 
There are 18,000 acres of school lands, which can be 
bought from the county at from fifty cents to one 
dollar and fifty cents per acre— one -third of pur- 
chase money cash, the balance on as long time as 
the purchaser desires, provided the interest is paid 
annually. There are also 8,000 acres of college land, 
offered at from two to five dollars per acre, on eight 
years time, with six per cent, interest. Still, 20,000 
acres of Government land here are subject to entry, 
at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, or 
which may be homesteaded. 

EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES. 

Marked attention is being given to the cause of 
ducation. According to the last report, there 
were 4,350 children, between the ages of six and 
twenty. There are sixty-five school districts, with 
seventy teachers employed, in the free schools, at 
an average salary of thirty dollars per month. The 
schools are maintained in every district from four 
to eight months in the year, and, as the county has 
a large permanent school fund, in addition to the 
amount drawn from the State, nearly all of the 
schools can be maintained for six months at a local 
tax of three mills. 

TOWNS. 

Marshfleld, the county seat, on the St. Louis & San 
Francisco Railway, is two hundred and seventeen 
miles from St. Louis. This town, with a population 
of 1,200, is located on the summit of the Ozark 
range, as eligible and beautiful a site as any in Mis- 
souri. Being in the curve of the railroad, it controLs 
much of the trade of the counties northeast and south 
of it, and its streets are usually filled with wagons, 
loaded with produce, from these dirterent points. 
It has three churches, two newspapers, two steam 
wheat elevators, a steam flouring and saw mill, 
wool carding machine, one bank, an extensive pork- 
packing house, one tobacco manufactory, one 
wagon factory, five dry goods stores, seven grocery 
stores, two lumber yards, two millinery stores, four 
drug stores, two markets, two hardware s.tores, one 
saddle and harness shop, one grange store, one boot 
and shoe shop, two cabinet makers, one marble 
yard, one furniture store, one music store, two 
wagon shops, five blacksmith shops, five hotels, two 
restaurants. 

The school house in Marshfleld is a fine brick edi- 
fice, built in the finest style of architecture, with all 
modern improvements. It cost .pO,000, one -third of 
which is already liquidated. Among other ship- 



ments from this town the past year, may be given 
the following: 75,000 bushels wheat ; fifty-one cars 
fat cattle ; forty- eight cars hogs ; twenty- seven cars 
sheep; 20,000 pounds wool; sixteen cars zinc ore; 
seven hundred and seventy-one bales cotton, and 
one hundred and seventy-three pigs of lead. About 
300,000 pounds of tobacco were shipped from this 
point in 1878, and 2,600 hogs were packed at the pork- 
packing house. 

Marigma, a flourishing little town, on the railroad, 
eight miles east of Marshfleld, commands a large 
trade, and is an important shipping point. 

Waldo, situated twelve miles southeast of Marsh- 
fleld, is located in one of tlie M'ealthiest and most 
productive portions of the county. They have a 
fine graded school, with an able corps of professors. 

Henderson is a growing town, eighteen mUes 
southeast of Marshfleld. There are several stores, 
a steam mill, and a flourishing academy, erected 
in the past year, with three professors and upward 
of one hundred students. 

INDEBTEDNESS AND TAXATION. 

The total indebtedness of the county, including 
bonds, county warrants, and floating debts of all 
kinds, is only $22,000. The rate of taxation flxed 
for all county purposes is five mills. For liciuidating 
past indebtedness three mills. This, with the rate 
flxed by the State (four mills), makes a total taxa- 
tion of twelve mills for all purposes except school. 
When the very low rate at which property is 
assessed is taken into consideration, it will Ije seen 
at a glance that the taxes are very liglit. The total 
valuation of real and personal property is $2,041,562. 
The county has a large, tasty and substantially built 
court house, with convenient and comfortable 
offices for county officials, all of them having fire- 
proof vaults, whicli lias been erected at a cost of 
about $20,000, a brick jail costing $8,000, so that there 
will be no taxation necessary for county buildings 
for years to come. 

SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PEOPLE. 

Public sentiment has been fully educated up to 
the most rigid enforcement of all laws in relatiou 
to the sale of intoxicating liquors, so much so that 
tliei'e is not an establishment of any kind licensed 
to sell liquor in the county; as a consequence, the 
meagre showing on the criminal docket proves that 
the laws are seldom violated. 

The residents of tlie county are a liberal, hospit- 
able public-spirited people. They are fully alive, 
to the importance of securing an industrious, en- 
ergetic, and moral population to Immigrate and 
locate in their midst. Tlioy proffsr to a" such, a 
mild, genial, healthy climate, a rich soil, a com- 
fortable, happy home, and a most cordial welcome, 
assuring them they will never regret having cast 
their lot in this county. 



266 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



WORTH COUNTY. 



In the extent of its area Worth is the smallest 
county in the State, containing only 174,720 acres. 
It is not, however, the smallest in point of popula- 
tion and wealth. Of the 114 counties in the State 
some thirty have a smaller number of inhabitants 
and less intrinsic worth than little Worth. But the 
primary object of this article is briefly and accurately 
to describe the advantages and resources of the 
county; hence comparisons are for the present laid 
aside. 

TOPOGRAPHY — SOIL. 

Worth County lies sixty miles east of the Mis- 
souri River, in what is known as the famous Upper 
Grand River Valley. Its altitude is 1,000 feet above 
the tides, and is embraced in one of the finest corn 
and grazing regions west of the Mississippi. The 
county is well watered from small rivei-s flowing 
southward through it, besides their numerous tribu- 
taries. The water courses are generally deep set 
and rapid, which gives ample drainage. The 
streams are well wooded with oak, hickory, ash, 
elm, walnut, cotton-wood and maple, giving an ad- 
mirable distribution of timber to each and every 
portion of the county. The distribution of timber 
and prairie land is excellently adapted to the neces- 
sities of the people for years to come. The soil is 
of a rich, dark, vegetable loam on the prairies, 
while in the valleys and bottoms it is black allu- 
vium. The sub-soil is porous and quickly absorbs 
moisture, and is almost proof against drouth. This 
is a superior advantage which this section of coun- 
try justly claims. 

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. 

Ab a farming country Worth has no superior. 
Winter and spring wheat do well here, yielding 
from fifteen to thirty bushels to the acre, according 
to season and culture. Corn is the great staple, 
growing from forty to one hundred bushels per 
acre. Oats, rye, barley, flax-seed, millet, broom 
corn, sorghum, etc., grow in great profusion. The 
soil seems to be especially adapted to the growth 
of these productions. Fruit of every description 
grows here almost spontaneously ; grapes especially 
are at home in this climate. Native grasses flourish 
here in their beauty, covering the prairies with their 
rich verdure. Of the domestic grasses, blue grass 
is in the lead, and is fast fighting its way to the 
front. Red clover and timothy attain a wonderful 
growth. 

HERDS AND FLOCKS. 

As a stock country, Worth county is unsurpassed, 
containing the elements necessaiy to insure a com- 
plete success in that branch of agricultural industry. 
But with wild lands at from $4 to $8 per acre, cheap 
corn, nine months grazing on the rich grasses of 
the prairies and bottoms, it is not at all surprising 
that cattle, sheep and swine raisers flourish here 
almost beyond ])recedent. Unlike in many of the 
counties in the State, the farmers of AVorth are 
paying much attention to the better grades of 



animals of every description. Fine, well-bred 
draught and road horses, standard mules, high 
grade short-horns, splendid tyi)es of Berkshii-e and 
Poland China hogs are the rule here. 

SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL. 

Of the ten thousand inhabitants of the county 
not less than eighty-five per cent, of them hail from 
the old Free States, and represent the full average 
of intelligence, culture and enterprise of the coun- 
try from which they came. This is jittested to by 
the many neat cottage school houses, and the beau- 
tiful church buildings which are dotted over the 
prairies in all directions. It is further attested to 
by the fact that the county has a permanent school 
fund of some thirty thousand dollars, which is being 
constantly augmented by public fines and forfeit- 
ures. The people vote taxes for school purposes as 
freely as if intelligence and moral culture were the 
only objects of life. The people are deeply inter- 
ested in educational affairs, and school matters 
receive attention commensurate with their import- 
ance. To the lasting credit of the people, be it said, 
that there has been no licensed saloon in the count}' 
within the last five yeai-s. Law, order and temper- 
ance are the cardinal virtues of the people of Worth 
Coxmty. 

COUNTY FINANCES. 

The financial condition of the county is second to 
none. It has not a cent of floating indebtedness,while 
the bonded debt is merely nominal, being only !f4,000, 
due in 1884, with a large surplus in the treasury; 
county and school warrants have been at par for the 
last five years. Is not this a beautiful i)icture to look 
upon, when compared with some of llie other less 
fortunate counties of the State? While many of 
them are groaning under the burdens of debt and 
consequent excessive taxation, AVorth County is 
compai-atively free and happy with her annual tax 
of only nine mills on the dollar for all purposes, 
excepting schools. Ko railroad debt hangs over the 
people — they never having voted a cent to any cor- 
poration whatsoever. Financially, Worth is one of 
the best managed counties in the State. 

RAILWAYS. 

The railway facilities of the countj' will shortly be 
unsuri^assed by any north of the Missouri River. 
The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Road runs con- 
veniently on the east; the Chicago, Burlington & 
Quincy, and the Kansas City, St. Jose]5h & Council 
Bluffs Roads form a terminus at Hopkins on the 
west, distant only twelve miles from the western 
boundary line of the county. Only twenty-two 
miles south, runs the great through line of the 
A\" abash, St. IjOuis it Pacific. The Leon, Mount Ayr, 
& Southwestern Road, from Mount Ayr, Iowa, to 
Grant (Mty, the county scat of AVorth, was recently 
completed, and will soon reach St. Joseph. It is a 
brancli of the great railway system of the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Company, and is designed to 
connect with the Santa Fe Road either at St. Joseph 



Hand-Book or Missouri. 



267 



or Atchison. After the extension of this branch to 
a connection witli the Santa Fe Road, it will be tlie 
great through line for freights between Chicago and 
the southwest, thus giving AVorth County both a 
northern and a soutliern market. Moreover, it will 
make healthy competition between the east and west 
roads. On the south is St. Louis with her wealth, 
while on the north is Chicago with her enterprise. 
Both cities liave fine railway systems, and the 
business rivalrj' between them, will have a bene- 
ficial effect on both markets and freight rates. No 
county is more favorably situated to reap the ad- 
vantages growing out of such a combination of 
circumstances than Worth. Though little Worth is 
only in the infancy of her developments, lier future 
is indeed flattering to contemplate. 

TO THE I MM I GRAN™ 

To the immigrant in search of a comfortable 
home. Worth County off'ers inducements rarely 



met Avith in the great Mississippi valley. Lands are 
cheap, and can be purchased upon easy terms. 
Taxes are uniformly low, and are always applied to 
the legitimate demands of the county. No indebt- 
edness hangs over tlie people, tlireatening to eat 
out their substance in taxation. 

Schools and churches abound in every neighbor- 
hood. Stock range, water and timber in abun- 
dance, and of the best quality. Railroad facilities 
excellent. First-class fruit and grain -growing 
climate, with a soil that needs only be ticked with 
the implements of husbandry to make it yield the 
richest harvests. Society excellent. No aristocracy 
exists here, to distinguish between tlie rich and the 
poor. No sectionalism and proscription is enter- 
tained here, as the outgrowth of the late war. 

A more hospitable, happy, and prosperous people, 
than those residing in Worth County, would, indeed, 
be hard to find. 



WRIGHT COUNTY. 



AVright County lies wholly within that belt of 
country called Southwest Missouri. Its north 
boundary is exactly at 37° 3" north latitude, and the 
county court house is located nearly at 92^ 30" 
longitude, west, from Greenwich. 

FACE OF THE COUNTRY. 

It is generally known* by those who are at all 
versed in the physical geography of the State, that 
its surface may be described as a broad, undulating 
plateau, from which jirojects a series of hills and 
ridges, extending from Ste. Genevieve to the south- 
west, and into which the branches, creeks, and 
rivers, have worn their deep, broad channels and 
valleys. Besides the local undulations of this vast 
plateau, some portions of it are much higher than 
others, as evidenced by the course of the streams. 

The highest part of the State, south of the Mis- 
souri Rivei-, is a high divide, extending from Greene 
County, through Webster, Wright, Texas, Dent, 
Ii-on and St. Francois counties. The western part of 
this region — including Webster, Wright, Texas and 
Dent — is a broad table -land, possessing numerous 
undulations, which give the country its rolling char- 
acter, and numerous valleys and ravines, which ren- 
der it more or less rough and broken. These valleys, 
worn by the streams, constitute an important feat- 
ure in the physical structure of this region, as they 
exert a very material influence on the ('liniate, and 
give many acres of the richest bottom lands. 

Along the larger water-courses of this county, 
the surface of the country, on one or the other side 
of the stream, is much broken by abrupt hills, 
rising in some instances to a considerable height 
above the general level; but, away from these 
streams, the surface is but moderately broken. 

CHARACTER OF LANDS. 

The lands of the county, fit for cultivation, may 

be divided into three general classes, viz: Alluvial 

bottoms, valley lands, and ridge lands. Lands of 

the first class named are, of course, found along 



the larger water-courses, and are more productive 
of certain crops than those of either of the other 
classes. Being, as they are, amalogous to the rich 
bottom lands of other sections, and at the same 
time so universally known as to quality, their de- 
scription is by no means demanded. Lands of the 
second class are found between parallel ridges, and 
they universally concentre on the larger water- 
courses, like the limbs of a tree on the trunk. Tliese 
lands, in their nature, diff'er but little from those of 
the first class. They are generally a little thinner 
of loam, and not so deep in soil. Lands of the 
third class occupy the heights of ridges walling the 
valleys. They are, so to speak, small table-lands, 
and ditt'er from the- lands of either of the other 
classes, in that they have purely clayey fouuda- 
ions, and possess, comparative!}', an inappreci- 
able quantity of tlie natural marl, or fertilizing 
element, so abundantly given to those others, espe- 
cially to the first. Among the citizens of the county 
occupying these different classes of land.s, respect- 
ively, it is an open question as to which of the three 
is the most valuable, all in all, for agricultural pur- 
poses. 

Of tlie 494,000 acres comprising the area of the 
county, 300,000 are estimated as fit for agricultural 
purposes, if not a greater proportion. These 300,- 
000 acres are, as nearly as can be estimated, distrib- 
uted among the three classes of lands abovw men- 
tioned, in the ratio of five acres of bottom lands to 
ten and fifteen acres of valley and ridge lands, 
respectively. Of this area, about 95,000 acres (a 
little less than one-third of tlie whole) are at this 
time in cultivation — so tliat within the limits of this 
county, a population of more than three times the 
present number may be supported from agricultu- 
ral pursuits alone, eveu under the very inferior 
system of tillage now prevailing among a consider- 
able majority of the farmers. 

The 104,000 acres not included in the above esti- 
mate, consist chiefly of land too rocky and uneven 
for cultivation. They subserve a very good purpose 



268 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



in the general economy of the country. At present 
a considerable portion of tlie people are producers 
of "hog and hominy" alone, and have not, of 
course, given the least attention to the raising of 
tame grasses; hence the service of these lands as 
pasture for horses, cattle, etc., which roam at vs^ill 
over the country, subsisting and growing fat in 
summer upon wild grasses, which they so abun- 
dantly pi-oduce. These lands, during seven months 
in the year, are covered with a profusion of wild 
grass seldom seen in other places, which furnishes 
excellent pasturage to "out" stock. Much of this 
land also furnishes excellent timber for out-build- 
ings and fencing. 



The crops of the county consists mainly of corn, 
wheat, oats and rye, with a sprinkling of grasses 
and tobacco. Of course, the people raise vege- 
tables—such as potatoes, cabbages and garden 
celery— sufficient for home consumption ; but never 
beyond this, from the fact their production does not 
pay. And it is surprising that they raise even corn 
beyond tliis extent, for there is no product of the 
soil less remunerative, when grown by all of the 
farmers, than the proverbial "nubbins" of these 
fields. Enough of this cereal, and nothing more, 
cultivated on lands particularly adapted to its 
growth, would prove remunerative to those who hold 
such lands ; but, cultivated as it is by everybody, it 
oftentimes — especially when the seasons are most 
favorable — becomes a "penny product encumbered 
with a jjound's expense." 

Tliat the lands may be made profitable, it is just 
as necessary that each particular kind of soil be 
used for the production of the article to which 
nature has adapted it, as that man should take to 
his particular calling, in order to best promote the 
interests of the community in wliich he lives. 
Hence it is, that, by a constant oversight of the 
farmers as i-egards the fitness of the soils, the county 
is 80 backward in the development of its agricultural 
resources. 

The production of wheat in the county is insig- 
nificant in comparison with what the best farmers 
would have it. Fully two -thirds of the cultivated 
acreage is vei-y well adapted to the raising of this 
grain; and if about one-half of this two-thirds was 
annually sown in wheat, the financial condition of 
the farmers would be materially improved. How- 
ever low the price, wheat always finds a ready sale 
in the market, and is marketable just at a time 
when the farmers are mostly in need of money. 
This consideration has, of late years, induced 
farmers to sow more extensively of this grain ; and, 
doubtless, before the lapse of a very great number of 
years, the county will become a wheat-growing 
section in a moderate meaning of the phrase. 

Although rye is not extensively grown in this 
county, yet it is a product, to the growth of which 
every acre of the valley and uplands is admii-ably 
suited. Sow it anywhere on these lands, and it will 
grow and mature well, let the season be ever so un- 
favorable to the growth and development of other 
crops. In this country, it is a never failing crop. 

As food for stock of all kinds, this grain is excelled 
l)y but few others. For cattle, especially, it is un- 
surpassed. They relish it, eat it with greediness, 
and grow fat on it. 



Oats are not raised beyond what is barely suflicient 
for home consumption, because it is by no means a 
profitable crop. 

Of tobacco, the farmers raise but little, owing, 
partly to the fact, that, but few of them know how to 
handle it, and, moreover, because of their a-version 
to the tediousness incident to its cultivation, and 
subsequent handling. There are in the county a 
few farmers hailing from Kentucky, who have given 
some attention to this crop, and have been amply 
rewarded in the production of an excellent article, 
and a bountiful yield. Many acres of uplands are 
peculiarly adapted to the production of this crop, 
and in the hands of energetic men, who know how 
to grow it, mj^t be made as remunerative as the 
most fertile valleys. 

The most valuable crop of the county, so far as it 
is produced, is the grass crop. 

About one half of the valley and upland acreage is 
peculiarly adapted to the raising of grasses, timothy, 
red top, blue grass and clover; and could every 
farmer of the county who owns lands, suited to 
their production, be induced to sow largely of them, 
and feed the product to cattle, mules and sheep, 
the county would, in a few years, i-ank among the 
wealthiest of Southwest Missouri. Grass should be 
the product of this section. 

The average yield of crops per acre is, under ordi- 
narily favorable circumstances, about as follows: 
Corn, 45 bushels; wheat, 18 bushels; oats, 35 bushels; 
rye, 30 bushels ; timothy, 2 tons ; red top, 11-2 tons ; 
tobacco, 1,200 pounds; Irish potatoes, 200 bushels; 
sweet potatoes, 150 bushels ; buckwheat, 25 bushels ; 
sorghum, large. 

Turnips and other root crops grow fine, and yield 
largely, as also do pumpkins, mellons, beans, peas, 
and other vegetables. 

FRUITS. 

This county, indeed, the whole of Southwesi 
Missouri, is emphatically a land where fruits of 
many kinds may be abundantly produced. The 
physical condition of this section is peculiarly 
favorable to the production of fruits. The dryness 
of the atmosphere, the chemical properties of the 
soil, and the thermometric condition of the seasons, 
all conspire to produce just sucli fruits as are most 
wholesome and nutritious. Owing to the great 
altitude of this section, the never-ceasing winds 
possess an extraordinary absorbing, or drying 
power, ever producing free evaporation, and sweep- 
ing away the moisture from the atmosphere. The 
soil possesses those ingredients which give fruit 
trees strength and vigor. Prevailing in the subsoil, 
are the oxides of iron, which act as tonics and 
stimulants to the ligneous fibre, just as the medicinal 
preparations of iron give tone and vigor to tlie 
muscular fibres of the human system. In the sur- 
face soil, is found potash; developed by the natural 
chemical action of heat, air and light upon the 
accumulation, for hundreds of years past, of ashes 
from the burning woods, which gives a healthy 
development to the corticle portions of the trees, 
and along with these advantages is possessed the 
proper amount of summer heat in the latter stages 
of maturity to enable the fruit to make full and 
proper development. 

The fruits most abundantly raised here are the 
apple, the peach and the plum. In no section in the 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



269 



same latitude do apples grow better than they do 
here, and their fine, ricli, crisp flavor cannot be 
excelled. They are comparatively free of specks, 
and preserve remarkably well ; besides, they are 
almost never-failing. During the past thirty years, 
not a single entire failure of the apple crop has 
taken place, and only two or three indifferent crops 
have occurred in the same period of time. With 
but little care, the borer, so destructive to trees in 
some localities, is comparatively harmless here. 
Apple trees in this section when properly cultivated, 
grow rapidly and vigorously, and bear uncommonly 
early. In a few instances, trees have been known 
to bear at as early age as four years. 

Peaches do well here, and the better varieties 
grow to a very large size, and are of a most excel- 
lent and delicious flavor. The trees grow very 
rapidly, and, as a general thing, bear very early. 

The plum tree is indigenous to this country, and 
is found growing vigorously and bearing abundantly 
in all the valleys not in cultivation. The tame 
varieties are planted to some extent, and do re- 
markably well, scarcely ever failing to bear an 
abundance of fruit. 

Tlie smaller fruits, such as strawberries, rasp- 
berries blackberries, gooseberries and grapes, grow 
Vild in great abundance. The wild grapes grow* 
-hrifty and are very prolific. Judging from the 
difference of both fruit and foliage, there are at 
least a dozen varieties in the county. All varieties 
of cultivated grapes do well in this soil, and a num- 
ber of small vineyards are in cultivation here, from 
a few of which some excellent wine has been pro- 
duced. 

The interest manifested of late years in the grow- 
ing of fruits is encouraging, so much so, indeed, that 
the time is coming when fruits will form no incon- 
siderable portion of the yearly products. 

STOCK-RAISING. 

If this section of the State merits unusual praise 
for its adaptability to any single industry, it is to 
stock raising. In no section of the United States, 
save in some portions of Texas, and in some of 
the southwestern territories, where wild grass is 
abundant the year round, can stock be more cheaply 
raised than in this ; and even in those sections, the 
better grades of stock, requiring, as they do, food 
from cultivated lands, cannot be as successfully 
raised as here. 

The combination of advantages for stock-raising 
in this county is, first— The hcalthfulness of the 
climate. Diseases common in many other sections 
to several kinds of stock, particularly horses, cattle, 
and sheep, are scarcely known here. Second— The 
greatest abundance of stock-water, not such as is 
found in the dirty and stagnant ponds and tanks of 
dry prairies, but pure, fresh water. Tliird— Wild 
grass grows in profusion on the hills and upland 
flats, and in tlie valleys. It comes very early, and 
does not entirely dry up or spoil by frosts of winter 
until very late — so that out-stock have abundant 
pasturage, free of cost to owners, for at least seven 
and a half months of each year. Besides, growing 
in the bottoms, are vines and small grass, upon 
which stock may graze during winter when the sur- 
face is clear of snow — thus obviating the necessity 
of heavy feeding during no inconsiderable portion 
of that season. Fourth— The winters are seldom 



inclement enough to materially lesson the vital 
energy of animals that are well fed and otherwise 
properly cared for. These advantages are becom- 
ing so apparent, that several of the most energetic 
farmers are engaging rather extensively in the stock 
business, realizing the fact that raising stock will 
pay better in this country than any other business. 
The kinds of stock principally raised in this 
county are, as in most of the counties of Southwest 
Missouri, horses, mules, cattle, sheep, and hogs, 
the tendency being decidedly in favor of the three 
last mentioned, as being the most profitable that 
can be raised under the surrounding circumstances. 
There is a growing feeling in favor of imported 
breeds. During the past year, a number of fine 
cattle and sheep, occupying a place in the herd- 
book, have been brought to the county from Ken- 
tucky; and, judging from the signs of the times, it 
is safe to predict that, during the present year, the 
amount of good cattle and sheep will be more than 
doubled. Of the varieties of improved cattle, the 
red, short-horn Durhams, are taking the lead; and, 
in the line of sheep, the Cotswolds, the Leicesters, 
and the Southdowns, are all meeting with favor. To 
the raising of good hogs, the farmers generally are 
giving much attention. Within the past few years, 
almost every farmer has made the improvement of 
his hogs a main object; and hence it is that, 
whereas, but a few years ago, good hogs were the 
exception, to-day bad hogs are the exception 

TAXABLE WEALTH. 

The following is an aggregate abstract of the tax- 
able property of this county and its valuation on the 
first day of August, 1879, as shown by the assessor's 
book for the year 1880: 

REAL ESTATE. 

Valued at 

Acres on book 273,805 $733,246 

Town lots on book 118 19,335 

Total $752,581 

PERSONAL PROPERTY. 

Valued at. 

Horses 3,398 $101,244 

Mules 875 26,0.54 

Asses and jennets 45 1,717 

Neat cattle 8,631 66,689 

Sheep 12,390 13,943 

Hogs 21,525 20,077 

Other live stock 12 19 

Moneys and notes 51,381 

Other personalty 96,177 

Total $377,288 

752,581 

Aggregate $1,129,869 

An analysis of these figures, shows the following 
average of values per unit: Land, $2.67; horses, $29; 
mules, $30; cattle, $7.73; sheep, $1.12; hogs, ninety- 
four cents. 

To the unit value of land add one-half; to those 
of horses and mules, three-fourths; double those 
of cattle, sheep and hogs, and these are their average 
selling prices. 

TIMBER SUPPLY. 

The principal timber trees of this county are the 
oak and walnut. Of the oak, there is almost every 
variety known in this State, and it is found in abun- 



270 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



dance and of fine size and (jnality all over the 
•ouuty — post oak, wliite oak and black oak on the 
hills and flats, and pin oak, burr oak and water oak 
in the vaUeys and bottoms. The walnut is also 
large and line, but does not cover so much of the 
territory. The county also abounds in ash, mul- 
berry, hickory, white maple, white and red elm, 
wild cherry, sycamore, persimmon, iron-wood, dog- 
wood, red bud and pa\vi)aw; and, to a more limited 
extent, may be found hackberry, birch, locust, sas- 
safras, willow, box-wood and cedar. 

The oak trees, in times past, were used exten- 
sively in the erection of cabins in which to live, 
but latterly they are mainly used in the construc- 
tion of out-buildings and fences. At this day and 
time tlie well-to-do farmei-s, merchants, etc., mostly 
use pine lumber in the construction of their dwell- 
ings, it being purchasable in any quantity and at 
remarkably low rates just south and east, in the ad- 
jacent counties — Douglas and Texas. 

ROCK ON FARMS. 

The great abundance of rock in this county is one 
of the principal objections which new-comers urge 
against it — especially those who come from sections 
where there is no rock on the surface. But those 
who have lived in the county long enough to be able 
to distinguish its advantages from its disadvantages, 
regard its rocks as being in a great measure, an 
estimable feature. Where ihe land is too rocky for 
cultivation, an abundance of excellent grass and 
timber grow — two things as necessarj- to the farmer 
as any crop he can produce. Moreover, there are 
but few acres of the lands so rocky that they can- 
not be utilized in the production of apples, peaches 
and grapes — products which, at no very distant day 
in the future, will be a source of immense wealth to 
this section. Again, many acres of the lands that 
are thickly studded with surface rock are abun- i 
dantly rich in those elements necessary to the pro- j 
duction of the best crops — grass, wheat and to- \ 
bacco. I 

For building purposes, there is an abundance of 
lime and sand-stone, and species known as yellow 
and white cotton-rock. The latter is very soft 
when first taken from the quarry, and easily 
wrought, but when exposed for a time to light and 
sunshine, becomes very hai'd and durable. The 
white cotton -rock is susceptible of a very fine 
polish, and retains its color well. 

MINERALS. 

There have been several discoveries of lead made 
in Wright County, the most notable of which is 
the Davis Mines, which are situated on the south- 
ern slope of the Ozark Mountains in the southwest 
part of the county. These mines have been worked 
for the last four years, and made a reasonable re- 
turn for the labor expended. Good machinery and 
mining tac^t would probably fully develope these 
mines, as they have been pronounced valuable by 
several parties who have examined them, and pro- 
fess to understand mining. Zinc ore is also found 
at this mine. There is no doubt a heavy bed of lead 
running through the above named section of this 
county, as there are outcroppings as far as eighteen 
miles east and fifteen miles west of the Oavis Mines, 
and considerable mining has been done at several 
places for lead for home use. 



According to Professor Schumard's report, copper 
exists in several localities in the county, awaiting 
capital and experienced miners to develop its where- 
abouts. 

.STREAMS AND WATEK-POWER. 

There are no great rivers within or along the 
borders of Wright County on which to (larry the' 
surplus of products to market, but it possesses 
streams affording water-power sufficient to convert 
ten times the grain raised into flour, and to spin 
a hundred fold more wool than is grown. Most 
prominent among these as to size is the Gasconade 
River, flowing diagonally through the county from 
the southwest to the northeast. This stream has a 
width of about eighty feet, and an average depth of 
three or more feet, and afi'ords excellent water- 
power throughout the entire year. Quite a number 
of good sites for such jjower are found along the 
main stream, a few of which are occupied by grist 
mills, while many lie unemployed. Beaver Creek, 
which flows through the entire width of the county 
near the eastern boundary, is, in point of water- 
power, equal, if not superior to the Gasconade. 
This stream is of very rapid descent, and is corres- 
pondingly well suited to the propelling of machinery. 
In proportion to length and volume of water, it 
furnishes as many good mill sites as any stream in 
Southwest Missouri. 

These two streams, with their many primary and 
secondary confluents, constitute a net work of 
flowing waters unsurpassed. 

RAILROADS AND COUMTY ROADS. 

Within the boundaries of the County there are no 
railroads at present. The surveyed line of the 
contemplated Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis 
Railway, passes east and west through the southern 
portion of the county, and. it is the oi)inion of those 
best informed, that this road will be in process of 
construction within the next two years ; if so, the 
county will soon experience a change for the better, 
the like of which has never been known by the 
people. 

Within seven miles of the northwest corner of 
the county, the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway 
passes. The most accessible depot on this road, and 
the one to which goods ai'e mainly shipped from St. 
Louis, is at Marshfield, Webster County, distant 
twenty-five miles from Hartsville, the county seat. 

As a general thing, the county roads are very good. 
Of these there are quite a number, wliich are kept 
in condition by semi-annual workings. 

SCHOOL FACILITIES. 

There are sixty- five regularly organized school 
districts in the county, in which was expended for 
school purposes during the past year, tlie sum of 
$6,517 14. Of this sum, $-2,400 57 was derived fi-om 
the public school fund of the State ; $2,065 44 from 
the permanent scliool fund of the county, and 
$2,051 18 from local taxation. Besides these sixty- 
five public schools, two high schools have been 
maintained during the past years, one at Mountain 
Grove, in the eastern part of the county, and the 
other at the county seat. 

The last enumeration, made in April, 1879, shows 
the number of children of school age, to be three 
IboHsaud four hundred and ten ; fifty-four of whoni 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



271 



are colored, and for whose benefit a separate school 
is maintained in the same manner as are the regular 
district schools. 

FINANCIAL CONDITION. 

GvTing to a most judicious management of public 
_ affairs by county officials, the financial condition 
of this county has always been good. To-day it is 
second to tliat of but few counties in the State. 
The county is entirely unencumbered with debt, 
and Avarrants are current the year round at from 
ninety-five to ninety-seven and one-half cents on 
the dollar, and oftentimes they sell at par. The 
aggregate taxation (comjirising State, county and 
local school tax), ranges from ninety cents to one 
dollar on the one hundred dollars. 



IMMIGRATION. 

Perhaps in no county in the State have the people 
done less to induce immigration than in this. Here- 
tofore the few people that have annually settled in 
the county, have done so of their own accord, and 
not at the solicitation of citizens. In this remark it 
is not the purpose to cast any i-eflection upon the 
people by intimating that they are too selfish to 
desire immigration to the county. It simply means 
that, by habit, as it were, they have been negligent 
of one of the most important interests of the county 
—that of securing a rapid and early development 
of its resources, through the combined efforts of as 
many people as might be accommodated on its 
thousands of acres of cultivable lauds. 



CENSUS 



OF 



Cities and Towns of Missouri, 

1880, 

WITH INDEX TO LOCATION. 



POP'N. TOWN. COUNTY. INDEX. 

185 Acasto Clarke B 16 

87 Adair Adair U 14 

250 Agency Buchanan F i 

260 Agency Ford Buchanan 

195 Alantlius Grove... Gentry C 5 

100 Alba Jasper K 6 

981 Albany Gentry C 6 

750 Alexandria Clarke C 17 

300 AlUndale Worth B 6 

200 Allenton St. Louis L 21 

2(i0 Allenville Cape Girardeau R24 

200 Almartha Dzark T 14 

■ 101 Alpha Grundy K 11 

.350 Altenburg Perry F 25 

135 Alton Oregon U 18 

125 Altona Bates L 6 

417 Amazonia Andrew E 4 

170 Aniericus Montgomery J 18 

225 Andover Hai-rison. . .". B 8 

8>i Annapolis Iron Q 21 

230 Appleton Cape Girai'deau Q 25 

1,114 Appleton City ....St. Clair M 8 

169 Arbela Scotland B 15 

ill Arcadia Iron F 21 

125 Arlington Phelps O 15 

125 Arno Douglas T 13 

825 Arrow Rock Saline Ill 

100 Asherville Stoddard T 23 

416 Ash Grove Greene R 9 

404 Ashley Pike H 19 

105 Ashton Clarke B 16 

500 Asper Livingston F 9 

225 Athens Clarke B 16 

250 Atlanta Macon E 14 

87 Auburn 1 incoln I 20 

218 Augusta St. Charles K20 

475 Aullville Lafayette I 9 

300 Aurora Lawrence T 9 

325 Austin Cass L 6 

81 Auxvasse Call away 1-16 

250 Ava Douglas... F 13 

275 • Avalon Livingston F li 

284 Avilla Jasper R 7 

140 Avoca Jeiferson N 22 

105 Avola Vernon P 6 

104 Avon .'■te. Genevieve F 22 

78 Aj^ersville Pulnam BIO 

200 Azen Scotland 



528 Baden St. Louis. 



.B25 



150 Baker St. Clair X 9 

300 Baker's Grove Barton * .F 6 

163 Ballwin. St Louis,3 mnwMer- 

araec L21 

192 Bancroft Daviess D 8 

75 Barkersville Callaway K 15 

551 Barnard Nodaway C 4 

175 Barnes' Ridge New Madrid 

103 Barnetsville Morgan 

154 Ban-y Clay ....H 5 



POP'N 
150 

88 
2 
250 

79 

75 
300 
200 

350 
193 
100 
2 5 
105 
6;U 
200 
500 
200 
204 

1,103 
281 
399 

1,009 
301 



209 
75 
330 
1('5 
105 

335 
201 
503 

127 
125 

75 
100 
415 
200 
103 
'.'03 

78 
356 
900 
149 

103 
301 

12.5 
493 

208 

126 

3,855 

175 



TOWN. COUNTY. INDEX. 

Bates City.- Lafayette I 7 

Battsville Carroll G 10 

Bay Gasconade L 17 

Bear Branch Linn , E 11 

Beaufort Franklin, 4 miles sw 

Casco L 19 

Beaver Douglas S 13 

Bedford. Livingston F 10 

Bee Forli lieynolds, 6 m w Cen- 

treville Q 19 

Belew's Creek Jefferson M 20 

Belgrade Washington O 20 

Bellair. .'. Cooper J 12 

Belle view. Iron F 20 

Belmont Mississippi T 27 

Belton Cass K 5 

Benton Scott S 25 

Benton City Audrain I 16 

Berger Franklin -K 18 

Bertrand M ississippi T 26 

Bethany Harrison () 7 

Bethel Sheli.y E 15 

Beverly Station. ..Platte G 4 

Be vier .Macon F 13 

Big Berger Franklin, 5 miles nw 

Union L 19 

Big Creek Texas R 16 

Bigelow Holt D 2 

Big Spring Montgomery J 18 

Billings Christian S 10 

Biid's Point Mississippi T 27 

Bisliop's Store Benton, 10 m s>v Mt. 

View Nil 

Bismarck St. Francois O 21 

Blackburn Saline .1 9 

Black Jack St Louis, 3 ni ne Fer- 
guson A 24 

Black Oak Point... Hickory O 11 

Black Walnut... .St. Charles K 21 

Blackwell... St. Francois N 21 

Blolgett Scott S26 

Blpomfield ,. Stoddard T 24 

Blooniington Macon E 13 

Blue Eagle Clay, 7 m swLiberty..H 5 

Blue Springs Jackson [ 6 

Boeuf Creek Fra nkl in L 18 

Bolckow Andrew D 4 

Boli var Polk P 10 

Bollinger Mills Bollinger, 13 miles svv 

llarbleHill R 24 

Bolton Harrison C 8 

Bontils' St. Louis, 5 m nw Gra- 
ham A 23 

Bonhomme ..St. Louis K 21 



Bonne Terre 

Bonnott's Mills. 
Boonesborough. 
Boonville. 



Boschert Town.. ..St. Charles. 



..St. Francois, 3 m nw 

Big River T'n 22 

,. Osage K 16 

..Howard 112 

.Cooper J 13 



Appendix. 



POP'N, 
121 

1,217 
150 

333 
1,250 

203 

2,315 

196 

151 

95 

451 

115 

1,405 

101 

1,820 

75 
439 
101 
125 
281 
110 

88 
701 



129 

2,503 

300 

117 

815 
203 
192 
418 
510 

1,525 
388 
275 
432 
503 

2,400 
142 
100 

2,950 

4,325 

85 

299 

110 

3,015 
8i0 

4,210 
211 
350 
103 
238 
125 
135 
237 
101 
705 
101 

199 
235 
101 
101 
710 
130 
167 

1,334 

255 

87 

5,885 
113 
600 
155 
201 
101 

1,496 
309 
200 

103 
30 i 
200 
115 

78 



TOWN. COUNTY. INDEX. 

Bower's Mills Lawi'ence S 8 

Bowling Green Pike H 18 

BradleyviLle Taney, 11 m ne For- 
syth Ull 

Brashear Adair D 13 

Breckinridge Caldwell F 8 

Bridgeton St. Louis A 22 

Brookfleld Linn E 11 

Brookline Station.. Greene S 10 

Brooklyn Harrison B 7 

Bi-otlierton St. Louis A 21 

Browning Linn D 11 

Brown's btation... Boone ...I 14 

Brownsville Saline , J 10 

Bruuot Wayne R21 

Brunswick Chariton Gil 

Brush Mercer B 9 

Bucklin Linn E 12 

Buckuer Jackson I 7 

Bufliugton Stoddard 

Bunceton Cooper J 13 

Burdett Bates L 5 

Burfordville Cape Girardeau 

Burlington Junc- 
tion Nodaway 

Burr Oak VaUey. . .Lincoln I 20 

Burton Howard H 13 

Butler Bates M 6 

Byron Osage M 17 

Cadet Washington N 21 

Cahoka Clarke B 16 

Gainesville Harrison B 8 

Cairo Randolph G 14 

Caledonia Washington O 20 

Calhoun Hemy L 19 

California Moniteau K 13 

Callas Macon F 13 

Cambridge Saline H 11 

Camden Ray H 7 

Camden Point Platte G 4 

Cameron Clinton F 7 

Canaan Gasconade M 18 

Cane Hill Cedar P 8 

Canton Lewis D 17 

Cape Girardeau... .Cape Girardeau R 25 

Cappela St. Charles K 20 

Caput Barton P 6 

Carpenter's Store. .Clinton, 6 m sw Gray- 

sonvUle G 5 

Carrollton Carroll H 9 

Carterville Jasper R 6 

Carthage Jasper R 6 

Caruthersville Pemiscot X 25 

Cassville Barry U 8 

Cave Spring Greene Q 10 

Cedar City Callaway K 15 

Cedar Fork Franklin L 18 

Oedarville Dade P 8 

Central st. Louis C 23 

Central City Putnam B 10 

Ceatralia Boone I 14 

Centre Point Atchison, 12 miles ne 

Kockport B 2 

Oentretown Cole K 14 

Centre View Johnson K 8 

Centre ville Reynolds Q 19 

Chambersville Dade R 7 

Chamois Osage K 16 

Champion City Franklin M 18 

Chai)el Hill Lafayette J 7 

Charleston Mississippi -■ ...T 26 

Cheltenham St. Louis E 24 

Cherry ville Crawford O 19 

(.:hillicothe Livingston E 9 

Civil Bend Daviess D 6 

Clarence Shelbv F 14 

Clarke City Clarke „ . . .C 16 

Clavksburgh Moniteau K 13 

Clark's Fork. ,.,».. Cooper J 13 

Clarksville Pike H 20 

Clarkton Dunklin V 24 

Clarysville Perry, 12 m ne Perry- 

ville P24 

Clayton St. Louis .D 23 

Clearmont Nodaway C 4 

Cleaves ville Gasconade 

Cleopatra Mercer B 10 

Clifton Schuyler C 14 



POP'N. TOWN. COCTNTY. INDEX. 

130 Clifton City Cooper K 12 

160 Clifton HUl. Randolph G 13 

3,005 Clinton Henry M 9 

132 Clintonville Cedar O 8 

150 Coatesville Schujier B 13 

125 Coffeysburgh Daviess D 7 

183 Cold Spring Douglas S 12 

73 Coldwater Wayne R 22 

220 ColeCamp Benton L 10 

160 Colemanville Carter S 20 

187 College Mound , . . .Macon F 13 

600 Coloma... Carroll G 9 

3,308 Columbia Boone J 14 

150 Columbus Johnson J 8 

525 Commerce Scott R 25 

214 Conception Nodaway C 5 

77 Concord Callaway I 15 

910 Concordia Lafayette J 9 

250 Consville Henry M 9 

75 Conway Laclede Q 13 

S3 Coon Creek Barton Q 7 

175 Cooper's Hill Osage L 17 

198 Cora Sullivan D 11 

201 Corden Lafayette I 9 

286 Corning Holt C 2 

125 Corry Dade Q 9 

106 Corsicana Barry S 8 

258 Cottleville St. Charles K 21 

163 Cottonwood Point, Pemiscot X 25 

80 Crab Orchard Ray H 7 

481 Craig Holt C 2 

103 Crane Pond Iron P20 

163 Crescent Hill Bates L »6 

175 Creve Coeur St. Louis C 21 

125 Crocker Pulaski N 14 

156 Cross Timbers Hickorv N 11 

900 Crystal City Jefferson N 22 

465 Cuba Crawford N 18 

280 Cunningham Chariton F 11 

387 Curryville Pike H 18 

380 Dadeville Dade Q 9 

261 Dalton .'..Chariton H 11 

215 Danville Montgomery J 17 

150 Dardenne St. Charles J 21 

403 Darlington Gentry 

265 Dawn Livingston F 9 

165 Dayton Cass L 7 

251 Deerfleld Vernon O 5 

131 Deer Ridge Lewis D 15 

500 De Kalb Buchanan F 4 

550 De Lassus St. Francois F 22 

102 Delto Laclede F14 

361 Denver Worth, 10 m se Grant 

City B 5 

132 Des Arc Iron R 21 

2,562 De Soto Jefferson .N 21 

650 Des Peres St. Louis E 21 

451 De Witt... Carroll H 10 

638 Dexter Stoddard 

75 Diehlstadt Scott S 25 

701 Dixon Pulaski N 15 

210 Doniphan Ripley U 20 

341 Dover... Lafayette I 8 

158 Downing Scliu vler .B 14 

350 Dresden Pettis K 10 

101 Dry Branch Franklin M19 

SO Dundee Franklin L 19 

75 Dunksburgh Pettis 

119 Dutzow .• . Wai ren K 20 

494 Eagle Harrison B 7 

269 Fast Atchison Buchanan G 3 

120 East Leavenworth.Platte H 5 

499 East Lynn Cass..... K 7 

409 Easton Buchanan F 5 

142 East Rulo Holt,7mswBigelow..D 2 

80 Ebenezer Greene RIO 

75 Economy Macon E 14 

95 Edgar Springs Phelps P16 

125 Edge Hill Reynolds P 20 

109'Edgerton Platte G 5 

1,165 Edina Knox C 15 

175 Edinburgh Grundy D 8 

125 Egypt Mills Cape Girardeau Q 25 

249 Ell Dale Atchison, 10 miles se 

Nishnabotna C 2 

167 Elk Horn Rav, 1ms Crab Or- 
chard H 7 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



lii 



POP'N. 

149 

83 
245 
113 
300 
125 
229 
215 

97 
250 

75 

89 
101 
253 

95 
. 101 

72 
75 
303 
105 

125 
125 
101 
1,205 
1,500 
300 
150 
210 
186 
298 
125 

97 
403 
850 

201 
485 
241 
285 

75 
115 
610 
260 

90 

1,805 

425 

203 

200 
179 
252 
105 
2,413 
190 

375 

205 
80 
88 

101 

1,400 
■ 208 
305 
250 
100 
125 

1,900 
77 
200 
663 
399 
81 
103 
250 
480 
153 

1,890 
140 

150 

687 

175 

86 

350 

98 



TOWN. COUNTY. INDEX. 

EUeiioi-ah Gentry C 6 

Ellis Vernon O 6 

Ellis Prairie Texas 

Elmwood Saline I 10 

El Paso Barry U 8 

Ellsberrv Lincoln I 20 

Elston. ". Cole K 14 

Emerson Marion E 16 

Eminence Shannon R 19 

Empire Prairie Andrews D 5 

Erie McDonald ". U 6 

Etlah Franklin K 18 

Etna Scotland B 15 

Eureka St. Louis L 21 

Evansville Monroe G 14 

Excelsior Morgan L 12 

Fairfield Benton Q 11 

Fair Grove Greene Q 11 

Fairmont Clarke ' C 16 

Fairville Saline, 8 miles n Mar- 
shall I 11 

Fai-ber Audrain H 17 

Farley Platte H 4 

Farmersville Livingston E 9 

Farming-ton St. Francois O 22 

Fayette Howard I 13 

Fayetteville Johnson J 9 

Feinme Osage St. Charles 

Fenton St. Louis L 22 

Ferguson St. Louis A 24 

Fillmore Andj-ews D 3 

Flag Springs Andrew,7 m n Roches - 

^ ter.., E 5 

Florence Morgan K 12 

Florida Monroe G 16 

Florissant St.Louis,3 m n Fer- 

' guson A 24 

Forbes Holt • .E 3 

Forest City Holt E 3 

Foristell St. Charles J 20 

Forsvth Taney U 11 

Four Mile Dunklin V 23 

Fox Creek St. Louis K 21 

Frankford Pike. G 19 

Franklin Howard I 13 

Fredericksburgh . .Osage K 17 

Fredericktown Madison Q 22 

Freeman Cass L 6 

Fremont Clarke, 2 m e Water- 
loo B17 

French Mills Madison 

French Village St. Francois N 22 

Frohna Perry P 25 

Frumet Jett'erson N 21 

Fulton Callaway J 16 

Fyan Laclede, 4 m ne Nebo,P 14 

Gad's Hill Wayne R 21 

Gainesville Ozark U 14 

Galbraith's Store.. Henry M 10 

Galena Stone T 10 

Galesburg Jasper, 1 mile e Geor- 
gia R 6 

Gallatin Daviess E 7 

Gayoso Pemiscot W 25 

Gentrvville Gentry D 6 

Georgetown Pettis J 10 

Georgia City Jasper R 5 

Germantown Henry, 5 m w La Duc.M 8 

Glasgow Howard I 12 

Glen Allen Bollinger R 23 

Glencoe St. Louis L 21 

Glenwood Schuyler B 12 

Golden City Barton Q 6 

Gordohville Cape Girardeau 

Goshen Mercer B 8 

Gower Clinton ,....G 5 

Graham Nodaway C 3 

Grain Valley College 

Granby Newton T 6 

Grand River Gentrjs 5 miles sw Al- 
bany C 6 

Granger Scotland B 16 

GrantCity Worth B 5 

Granville Monroe. G 15 

Gravel Hill Cape Girardeau Q 24 

Gravel Point. Texas R 15 

Gravois Mills Morgan M 13 



POP'N. 

201 
188 
205 
675 
201 
103 
207 
428 
75 
128 
140 

73 
117 
151 

82 
138 
150 
1,226 
175 
11,115 
305 
205 
109 
1,800 
459 
155 
136 
150 
120 
210 
175 
1,326 
350 
105 
310 
149 

81 

237 
920 
322 
269 
337 
150 
2,011 
153 
210 
349 
102 
244 

79 
1,005 
110 
103 
351 
143 
153 
425 
505 
105 

85 

1,825 

251 

81 



TOWN. COUNTY. INDEX. 

Gray's Ridge Stoddard T 25 

Gray's Summit. .'. .Franklin L 20 

Green Castle Sullivan O 12 

Greenfield Dade Q 9 

Green Ridge Pettis ^10 

Greenton Lafayette .1 i 

Green Top Adair Cio 

Greenwood Jackson Jo 

Gregory Landing.. Clarke C 17 

Guilford Nodaway D 4 

Gunn City Cass K 7 

Hager's Grove Shelby E 15 

Hainesville Clinton G 6 

Half Rock Mercer C 9 

Half Way Polk P 10 

Hall^ville Boone I 14 

Hamburgh St. Charles K 20 

Hamilton Caldwell F 7 

Hancock Pulaski N 15 

Hannibal Marion F 18 

Hardin Ray H 8 

Harlem Clay I 5 

Harrisburgh Boone I 14 

Harrisonville Cass K 6 

Hartville Wright R M 

Harviell Butler U 22 . 

Havana Gentry D 6 

Hazel Run St. Francois O 22 

Hazel Green Laclede 

Hematite Jerterson M 22 

Henderson Webster ;-S 12 

Hermann Gasconade K 18 

Hermitage Hickory OH 

Herndon Saline I 10 

Hickman .Mills Jackson J 5 

Hickory Creek Grundy D 8 

Hickory Springs... Texas, 8 m w Cedar 

Bluff S15 

Higbee Randolph H 13 

Higginsville Lafavette I 9 

High Hill Montgomery J 18 

High Point Moniteau L 13 

Hillsboro Jefferson M 21 

Hitt Scotland B 14 

Holden .Johnson K 8 

Hollidav Monroe G 15 

Holstein Warren K 19 

Holt Clay G 6 

Holt's Summit. ..Callaway K 15 

Hopewell Acade- 
my Warren K 19 

Hopewell Furnace,Washington O 20 

Hopkins .Nodaway B 4 

Horine Station Jefferson M 22 

House Springs Jefferson L 21 

Houston Texas R 16 

Houstonia Pettis J 10 

Hudson Bales M 7 

Humansville Polk O 10 

Huunewell Shelby F 16 

Huntingdale Henry L 8 

Huntington Ralls F 17 

Huntsville Randolph G 13 

Hurdland Knox D 14 

Hutton Valley Howell S 16 

.Platte G 3 

.Jackson I 6 



173 latan 
3,148 Independence 



91 
312 
1,400 
251 
810 
200 

75 

825 
149 
167 
160 
431 
653 
205 
550 

5,420 
105 
300 



Index Cass L 7 

Irondale Washington O 21 

Iron Mountain St. Francois P 21 

Iron Ridge Crawford N 17 

Ironton Iron F 21 

Isabella Ozark U 13 

Isadora Worth B 5 

Jackson Cape Girai-deau Q 25 

Jackson Station... Daviess E 8 

Jacksonville Randolph G 14 

James Bayou Mississippi - U 26 

Jameson Daviess D 8 

Jamesport Daviess E 8 

Jamestown Moniteau K 14 

Jefferson Barracks,St. Louis, 1 mile n 

Quarantine L 22 

Jefferson City ....Cole K 14 

Jennings St. Louis B 24 

Jobe .Oregon V 19 



IV 



Appendix. 



POP'N. TOWN. COUNTY. INDEX. 

251 Johnson City St. Clair N 8 

152 Jolinstowii JJates M 7 

. 441 Junesbuigli Montgomery J 18 

8,000 Joplin Jasper S 6 

90 Josephville St. diaries, 21 m w St. • 

Charles J 22 

62,000 Kansas City Jackson I 5 

750 Kearney Clay H 6 

153 Kennett Dunklin W 23 

725 Keytesville Chariton G 12 

312 Kiddei- Caldwell E 7 

131 Kiddridge Osage. . ; 

85 Ki ideville Sullivan C 11 

715 Kimmswick Jefferson M 22 

310 KiugCity Gentry. D 5 

200 King Grove Hoi t,23 m ne Oregon, D 3 



453 Kingston Caldwell. 



.F 7 

100 Kingston Furnace.Washington N 20 

275 Kingsville Johnson K 7 

152 Kirbyville Taney 

2,093 Kiiksville Adair D 13 

1,500 K irkwood St. Louis F 22 

250 Kissinger Pope 

1,255 Knobnoster Johnson J 9 

275 Knox City Knox D 16 

205 Knoxville Ray G 8 

9!) Koeltztown Osage M 15 

340 LaBelle Lewis D 16 

1 ,003 Laclede Li nn Ell 

153 Laddouia Audr^n HI" 

120 La Due Henry M 8 



Lewis D 17 

Lake City Jackson I 7 

Lake Creek Benton Lll 

Lakenan Shelby F 16 

Lakeville Stoddard S 24 

Lamar Barton Q 6 

Lamar's Station.. Nodaway B 3 

Laraotte Place St. Charles 

Lancaster Schuyler B 13 

La Plata Macon D 13 

Latham St ore Moniteau 

Lawrenceburgh. . .Lawrence, 13 m ue Mt. 

Vernon S 8 

Lawson Ray G 7 

Laynesville Saline H 10 

Leasburgh Crawford X 19 

Lebanon Laclede P 13 

Lebeck. Cedar O 8 

Lee Carter 

Leesburgh... Monroe 

Lee's Summit Jackson J 6 

Leesville Henry M 9 



l,35:i La Grange 
510 ^ ' '■ 
209 
75 
150 
975 
205 
405 
528 
712 
101 
150 

340 

209 

100 

1,510 

78 

80 

76 
951 
205 



POP'N. TOWN. COUNTY. 

225 Luray Clarke 

600 Lutesville BuUinger.. 



INDEX. 

....B16 
... .11 23 



128 Le Koy. 



.Barton P 6 



201 Lesterville Reynolds Q 20 

811 Lewis Station...... Henry L 9 

128 Lewi^ton Lewis D 16 

4,060 Lexington Lafayette I 8 

2,042 Liberty "...Clay H 5 

142 Libertyville St. Francois F 23 

388 Licking Texas Q 16 

260 Lincoln Benton L 10 

315 Lindey Grundy D 10 

155 Lingo Macon ...ri2 

175 Linn < isage D 16 

185 Linn Creek Canideu N 13 

1,025 Linncs Linn Ell 

151 Lisbon Howard I 12 

185 LittleBlue .Jackson J 6 

75 Little Comiiton... .(Carroll G 10 

80 Little Niangua Camden X 12 

S3 Little Osage Vernon O 6 

102 Locust Hill Knox D 14 

199 Logan Lawrence S 9 

151 Lone Dell Franklin 

199 Lone Jack Jackson J 6 

75 Lone Star Gentry C 6 

150 Longtown Ferry P 24 

407 Longwood Pettis .J 10 

177 Loose Creek Osage L 15 

249 Lorraine Hariison, 8 miles ne 

Bethany 7 

85 Louisburgh Dallas O 11 

4,325 Louisia na Pike G 19 

188 Louisville Lincoln H19 

111 Loutre Ishind iMontgonieiy K 18 

185 Lowry City St. Clair N 9 

200 Ludlow Livingston F 8 



300 

557 
150 
3,100 
328 
451 
355 

168 

83 

153 

610 

329 

2,800 

1,521 

387 

275 

113 

151 

208 

4,000 
103 

530 

288 
403 
210 
78 
199 
1,461 
100 

141 
110 
121 

4,783 

1,015 
167 
305 
505 
300 

1,200 
115 
155 
121 
125 
206 
203 
351 
225 
102 
150 
120 
300 
401 
525 
90 

6,283 
800 
250 

1,254 
321 
481 
309 
175 
505 
133 
210 
140 
205 
113 
85 
ISO 

812 
103 
124 
111 
169 
110 
600 
75 



McCartney's Cross 

Roads D e K alb 

McDowell Barry T 9 

McFall Gentry C 6 

Macon City Macon F 14 

Madison Monroe G 15 

Malta Bend Saline H 10 

Manchester St. Louis, 3 m n Mer- 

amec L 21 

Mandeville Carroll G 9 

Manton... Maries M 15 

Marion Cole K 14 

Marion ville Lawrence S 9 

Marquand Madison Q 23 

Marshall Saline 1 11 

i\i arshlield Webster Q 12 

Marthasville Warren K 19 

M artinsburgh Audrain I 17 

Martinsto wn Putnam C 12 

Marti nville Harrison 6 

Martling Newton, 2 miles ne 

Neosho T 7 

Marj^ille Nodaway C 4 

Maxville Jefferson, 7 m se High 

liidge L 21 

May villc De Kalb E 6 

Mayriew Lafayette I 8 

Meadville Linn E 10 

Mechanicsville — St. Charles K 21 

^ledoc Jasper R 6 

Medora Osage K 17 

Memphis...'. Scotland B 15 

Mendota Putnam, 5 miles nw 

Omaha B 12 

Meramec St. Louis L 21 

W ercy ville Macon E 12 

Metz Vernon N 6 

Jlexico Audrain I 16 

Miami Saline H 11 

Middle Brook Iron F 21 

Middle Grove Monroe H 15 

Middletown Montgomery I 18 

Midland Crawford N 18 

Milan Sullivan D 11 

Miles Point Carroll H 9 

Milford Barton P 7 

Millard Adair D 13 

Millersburgh Callaway J 15 

Millersville Cape Girardeau Q 24 

Mill Grove Mercer C 9 

Mill .'Spring W ayue S 21 

Millville Bay G 8 

Millwood Lincoln 119 

Milion Atchison ....C 2 

Mine La Motte Madison F 23 

Mineral Point Washington N 20 

MirabJle Caldwell F 7 

^lissourie City Clay II 6 

Mitchellville Harrison C 7 

Moberly Randolph H 14 

Monroe City Mon roe F 16 

Montevallo Vernon P 7 

Montgomery City.. Montgomery J 17 

Monticello Lewis D 16 

Montrose Henry M 8 

Mont.-<eri at Johnson 

Mooresville Livingston .■ F 8 

Moiley Scott S 25 

Morrison Gasconade K 17 

Morrisville Polk..., Q 9 

Morse's Mill Jefferson M 21 

Morton Bay H 8 

A'oscow Clay, 5 nine Kas. City, I 5 

Moselle Franklin M 20 

Moulton Shelby. 12 m nw Shel- 

bvvilie E 15 

Mound City Holt, 3 nine Bigelow..D 2 

M unds Vernon P 6 

Mount Leonard.. ..Saline I 10 

Mount Moriah Hai-rison C 8 

Mount Pleasant. ..Gentry 5 

Mount Pleasant... Miller 

JMount Vernon Lawrence S 8 

Mount View Benton Nil 



175 Napoleon Lafayette I 



Hand-Book of Missouri. 



POP'N. 

100 

184 

175 
2,010 
2,500 
4(i7 
103 
510 
1G3 
100 
373 
325 
101 
153 
555 

75 
160 
610 
900 
151 
151 
353 
3)0 
637 
115 
125 
179 
515 
10 i 
126 

89 
810 

90 

87 

1,317 

138 

320 
77 

210 

500 

405 

140 

498 

125 
3,000 
1,015 

450 
312 
203 
423 

463 

703 

75 

205 

236 

1,500 

75 

2,500 

305 
1,602 

200 

470 

113 

152 

503 

361 

125 

200 

115 

104 

203 

319 

1,(175 

202 

301 
203 
100 
851 
1,60» 

101 

412 
505 
104 



TOWN. COUNTV. INDEX. 

Nasby St. Louis 

K ebo Laclede P 14 

Neeleysville.... . ..Butler V 21 

Neosho Newton T 6 

Nevada Vernon O 7 

-Newark Knox D 15 

NewBloonifleld . . . Callaway K 15 

New Cambria Macon F 12 

Newcastle Gentry C 7 

New Enterprise ...Linn 

New Florence Montgomery J 18 

New Frankfort Saline H 11 

New Hamburgh. . ..Scott 

New Hartford Pike H IS 

New Haven Franklin K 19 

New Home Bates N 5 

New Hope Lincoln I 20 



New London 
New Madrid . 
New ftladrid . 
New Market.. 

New Melle 

New Ottenbur 

New Palestine Cooper 

New Point Holt 



Kails G17 

New Madrid V 26 

.New Madrid G 4 

.Platte G 4 

,St. Charles K 20 

Ste. Genevieve O 23 

J 12 
D 3 



Newport Barton K 19 

New Santa Fe J ackson J 6 

Newtonia Newton,4 m s Ritchey.T 7 

New; own Putnam B 10 

New Wflls Cape Girardeau Q25 

Nislinabotna Att'hison.. C 1 

Norborne Carroll H 9 

Norma Webster S 13 

North Fork Monroe 

North Springfield, Greene R 10 

Novelty Knox.. ; E 15 

Oak Grove Jackson J 7 

Oak Hill ..- .Crawford M 18 

Oak Kidge Cape Giiardeaii Q 24 

Odessa Lafayette J 8 

O'Fallon St. Lawrence .1 21 

Old Alexandria.. .Lincoln -I 20 

Old Mines AVasliington N 21 

Olney.. ' Lincoln I 19 

Omaha Putnam B 12 

(tregoii Holt D 3 

On a Laclede 

Oronogo Jasper R 6 

Orrick Ray H 7 

Osage Citv Cole L 17 

Osborn ..". De Kalb E 6 

Osceola St. Clair N 8 

OttervUle Cooper. - K 12 

Owensville Gasconade M 18 

Oxford Worth B 5 

Ozark Christian S 11 



Pacific Franklin L 20 

Page City ...Lafayette I 9 

Palmyra M arion F 17 

Papinsville Bates N 6 

Paris ■ Monroe G 16 

Parker's Station. . .Scott li 24 

Parkville Plal^te ^ H 5 

Patterson Wayne R 21 

Patton Bollinger Q 23 

Pattonsburg Daviess., D 7 

Paynesville Pike H 20 

Pe.ce Valley Howell T 16 

Pea bland Osage L 16 

Peaksville Clarke B 16 

Peculiar .'..Cass, 7 m nw Harris- 
on ville K 6 

Pendleton W^arren J 18 

Perry Ralls G 17 

Perryville Perry ...P24 

Pevely Jefferson, 1 mile s Illi- 
nois M 22 

Phelps City Atchison 0. 1 

Philadelphia Marion E 16 

Pickering Nodaway B 4 

Piedmont Wayne R 21 

Pierce City Lawrence. T 8 

Piketon Stoddard S 24 

Pilot Giove Cooper J 12 

Pilot Knob .Ir n P 21 

Pinckney Warren K 19 



POP'N. TOWN. COUNTY. INDEX. 

100 Pine Creek. Laclede Q 13 

251 Pineville McDonald U 6 

81 Pink Hill Jackson I 6 

157 Pisgah Cooper J 13 

650 PlatteCity Platte H 5 

l,6u0 Plattsburg Clinton G 6 

851 Pleasant Gap Bates M 6 

210 Pleasant Green Cooper J 11 

2,315 Pleasant Hill C;iss ...J 7 

120 Pleasant Hope Polk Q 11 

309 Pleasant Mount. ..Miller L 13 

103 Pleasant View Cedar O 8 

101 Plevna Knox... K 15 

76 Pocahontas Cape Girardeau Q 25 

217 Point Pleasant.... New Madrid V 25 

125 Pollock Sullivan C 11 

102 Polo Caldwell... G 8 

725 Poplar Blulf Butler U 22 

175 Portage des Sioux, St. Charles J 22 

150 Portageville New Madrid.- V 25 

203 Portland Callaway .K 17 

900 Potosi Washington O 20 

209 Prairie ville Pike H 20 

103 Prathersville Clajr 

1,305 Princeton Mercer B 9 

16^ Proctorville Caldwell F 8 

116 Quapaw Newton T 5 

385 Queen City Schuvler C 13 

205 Qiiincy .*. .Hickory •. - ,N 10 

409 Quitman Nodaway .B 3 



74 

513 
102 
91 
101 
150 
547 
151 
121 
281 
1,435 
180 
105 

150 
135 
150 
293 
825 
241 
887 
353 
229 

75 
1,851 
259 
147 
139 
116 

87 

95 
526 

81 

101 

253 

7,652 

251 

125 

302 

1,813 

375 

301 

■ 155 

32,680 

35U52J 

419 

150 

650 

151 

1,823 

1,275 

77 

98 

213 



Racine Newton, 9 m nw Ne- 
osho T 

Ravanna Mercer B 

Raymore ...Cass K 

Ray ville Ray H 

Reeds Jasper S 

Reform Callaway J 

Renick Randolph H 

Republic Greene S 

Rhineland Montgomery K 

Richland Pulaski " O 

Richmond Ray. . . .' H 

Kichwooils .Washington N 

Ridgeley Platte, 6 m e Camden 

Point G 

Ritchey Newton T 

River-aux- Vases . .Sie. Genevieve O 

River V' lew Morgan M 

Roanoke Howard H 

Rocheport Boone I 

Rochester Andrew E 

Rockport Atchison B 

Rockville Bates N 

Rocky Comfort McDonald U 

iiocky Mount Miller M 

Rolla Phelps O 

Roscoe St. Clair N 

Rose Hill Jolinson K 

Rosendale Andrew D 

Rothville Chariton F 

Round Grove Lawrence R 

Rush Tower Jefferson N 

RiiShville Buchanan G 

Russellville Cole L 



St. Auberts Callaway K 16 

St. Catherine Linn E 12 

St. Charles St. Chailes J 21 

St. Clair Franklin M 19 

St. Cloud Scott .S25 

St. Frkncisville — Clarke B 17 

Ste. Genevieve — Ste. Genevieve O 23 

St James Phelps N 17 

St Joe Lead Mines, St. Francois 

St. John Putnam B 11 

St. Joseph Buchanan F 4 

St. Louis St. Louis E 26 

St. Mary's Ste. Genevieve O 23 

St. Paul Sr. Louis 

St. Peters. . . .' St. Charles J 21 

St. Thomas Cole L 14 

Salein Dent F 18 

Salisbury Chjiriton H 12 

Sampson Creek Hairison C 7 

Sand Hill Scotland C 15 

Santa Fe Monroe H 16 



VI 



Appendix. 



POP'S. TOWN. COUNTY. INDEX. 

225 Sappington St. Louis, 3 m se Kirk- 
wood F22 

375 Sal-coxie Jasper S 7 

1,217 Savannali Andrew E 4 

8J Saverton Ralls 

785 Shell City Vernon O 7 

1.50 ^cotland Jasper S 6 

114 Scottsville .Sullivan D 10 

11,000 Sedalia Pettis K 10 

73 Sedge wickville Bollinger Q 24 

480 Seneca Newton T 5 

121 Sliawneetown Cape Girai-deau 

1,303 Shelbina Shelby JM5 

763 Shelbvville Shelby E 15 

200 Shell Knob Barry U 9 

103 Shibley's Point Adair C 12 

125 Shotwell Franklin L 18 

250 Siblev Jackson H 7 

251 Sikeston Scott -.T 25 

200 Siloam Springs Howell 

100 Skidmore Nodawav 

9.11 Slagle Polk ....". 

351 Smithton Pettis K 11 

312 Smithville Clay G 5 

98 Somerset Mercer 

185 South Point ...Franklin L 19 

141 South West City... McDonald V 5 

549 Speucerburgh Pike G 18 

398 Spickardsville Grundy C 9 

7,938 Springfield Gieene R 11 

153 Spring Hill Livingston E 9 

2,000 Standard De Kalb, 8 miles sw 

Maysville E 6 

437 Steelville Crawford N 19 

151' Steen's Prairie Maries M 17 

129 Stephen's Store... Callaway J 15 

914 Stewartsville De Kalb E 5 

141 Sticklerville Sullivan D 11 

404 Stockton Cedar P 9 

198 Stoutland Camden O 13 

149 Stoutsville Monroe G 16 

151 Strasburgh ...'. Cass K 7 

219 Stringtown Cole L 14 

81 Stroderville Cape Girardeau R 24 

817 Sturgeon Boone H 14 

168 Sue City Macon E 14 

101 SugarLake Platte.. G 4 

375 Sullivan Franklin M 19 

154 Sulphiir Springs. Jefferson, 2ms Kimms- 

wick M 22 

152 Summers ville Texas R 17 

100 Sunny Side Wright Q 14 

195 Sweet Home Nodaway C 4 

75 Sylvania ....Dade....' Q 8 

358 Syi-acuse Morgan K 12 

180 Taberville St. Clair N 8 

73 Taos Cole L 15 

87 Ten Mile Macon E 14 

93 Terre Haute Putnam B 10 

125 Thomas Harrison C 8 

71 Thomas Hill Randolph G 13 

202 Thomasville Oregon T 17 

200 Thornleigh J 10 

139 Thurman Newton, 3 m ne Shoals- 
burgh S G 

994 Tipton Moniteau K 13 

150 Trace Creek Madison Q 22 

3,400 Trenton -.Grundy D 9 

205 Triplett Cliariton G 11 

944 Troy Lincoln J 19 

403 Truxton Lincoln 1 18 

132 Turney's Station.. Clinton F 6 



POP'N. TOWN. COUNTY. INDEX. 

157 Tuscumbia MiUer M 14 

481 Union Franklin L 19 

100 Union Star De Kalb D 5 

263 Uniontown Perry P 24 

902 Uniouville Putnam B 12 

164 Ur liana Dallas O 11 

76 Urich Henry L 8 

705 Utica Livingston F 9 

198 Valley Ridge Dunklin 

486 Vandalia Audrain H 17 

101 Vermont Cooper K 12 

479 Verona Lawrence T 9 

651 Versailles Morgan L 13 

299 Vibbard Ray H 7 

247 Victoria Station. ..Jefferson N 21 

407 Vienna Maries M 16 

163 Virgil City Ctdar P 7 

75 Wadesbui-gh Cass...-. L 7 

250 Wakenda Carroll H 9 

229 Waldron Platte H 5 

351 Walker Vernon O 7 

249 Wallace Buchanan G 4 

257 Walnut Grove Green Q 10 

75 Warren Marion 1' 16 

4,026 Warrensburg Johnson J 8 

600 Warreuton Warren J 19 

551 Warsaw Benton M 10 

270 Washburn Barry U 8 

.351 Watson Atchison B 1 

851 Waverly Lafayette H 9 

101 Waynesville Pulaski O 15 

2,000 Webb City Jasper S 6 

1,2110 Webster Groves... St. Louis, 9 miles w St. 

Louis E 26 

383 Wellington Lafayette 1 8 

125 Wellsburgh St. Cnarles, 3 miles nw 

O'Fallon J 21 

875 Wellsville Montgomery I 18 

625 Wentzville St. Charles J 20 

75 West Fork — Reynolds Q 19 

202 West Line Cass L 5 

1,503 Weston Platte G 4 

410 Westphalia Osage L 16 

618 West Plains Howell U 16 

163 West Point Bates M 5 

503 Westport Jackson, 3 m s Kansas 

City I 4 

75 West Union Cass K 6 

100 Westville Chariton F 12 

380 Wheatland Hickory O 10 

201 Wheeling Livingston E 10 

232 White Oak Groves, Greene S H 

225 Whitesville Andrew D 5 

81 Whitewater Cape Girardeau R 26 

105 Williamsburgh. . . .Callaway J 17 

354 Williamstown Lewis C 16 

175 Williamsville Wayne S 22 

110 Willmathsville. . . . : Adair C 14 

101 Willow Springs.... Ho well S 16 

204 Winchester Clarke C 17 

1,003 Windsor .Henry L 10 

85 Winslow De Kalb D 6 

869 WiiistoTiville Daviess E 7 

125 Wintersville Sullivan C 10 

251 Wittenberg Perry P 25 

150 Woodlam Gasconade L 18 

500 Worcester Audrain 

80 Yancy Mills Phelps O 18 

300 Yeakley Greene 



OE3iTSTJS OIP 



Counties of Missouri: 



1880. 



COUNTIES. POPULATION. 

Adair 15,190 

Andrew 16,318 

Atchison 14,565 

Audrain 19,760 

Barrj' 14,434 

Barton 10,332 

Bates 25,382 

Benton 12,398 

Bollinger 11 ,132 

Boone 25,444 

Buchanan 49,824 

Butler 6,itll 

Caldwell 13,654 

Callaway 23,670 

Camden 7,267 

Cape Girardeau 20,998 

CaiToll 23 262 

Carter 2,168 

Cass 22,431 

Cedar 10,757 

Chariton 25,224 

Christian 9,649 

Clarke... •. 15 031 

Clay 15,579 

Clinton 16,073 

Cole ,. lo.'>19 

Cooper 21.638 

Crawford 10,774 

Dade 12,5.57 

Dallas 9,272 

Daviess 19,174 

De Kalb 13,34! 

Dent 10,617 

Douglass 7,753 

Dunklin 9,604 

Franklin 26,536 

Gasconade 11,173 

Gentry 17,202 

Greene 28,817 

Grundy 15,210 

Harrison 20,318 

Henry •■ 23,843 

Hickory 7,388 

Holt 15,510 

Howard 18,428 

Howell 8.814 

Iron 8,183 

Jackson 82,364 

Jasper 32,021 

Jefferson.... 18,7.36 

Johnson 28,177 

Knox 13,047 

Laclede > 11,524 

Lafayette 25,731 

Lawre nee 17,585 

Lewis 15,925 

Lincoln 17,443 

Linn 20,016 

Livingston 20,205 



COUNTIES. 



POPULATION. 



McDonald .^ 7, 816 

Macon 26,223 

Madison 8,860 

Maries 7,323 

Marion 24,837 

Mercer 14,674 

Miller 9,807 

Mississippi 9,270 

Moniteau 14,349 

Monroe 19,075 

Montgomery 16,251 

Morgan ] 0,134 

New Madrid 7.694 

Newton 18,948 

Nodaway " 29,560 

Oregon 5,731 

Osage 11,824 

Ozark 5,618 

Pemiscot 4,299 

Perry 11,895 

Pettis 27,298 

Phelps ]2,.565 

Pike 26 716 

Platte 17,s73 

Polk 15,745 

Pulaski 7,250 

Putnam ]3,P56 

Kails 11,838 

Randolph 22,751 

Ray 20,200 

Reynolds 5,722 

Ripley 5,377 

St. Charles 23,060 

St. Clair 14,157 

St. Fi.-ancois 13,822 

Ste. Genevieve 10,390 

St. Louis 31 ,888 

St. Louis (City) 350,522 

Saline 29,938 

Schuyler 10,470 

Scotland 12,507 

Scott 8,-587 

Shannon 3,441 

Shelby 14,024 

Stoddard 13,432 

Stone 4,4J9 

Sullivan , 16.569 

Taney 5,633 

Texas 12,219 

Vernon 19,.382 

Warren 10,806 

Washington 12,895 

Wayne 9,097 

Webster 12,176 

Worth 8,208 

Wright 9,733 



Total Population 2,168,804 



INDEX. 



PACK 

Preface 3 

Ijocation and Area 7 

The VaUey of the Mississippi 7 

Physical Northern Missouri 10 

Physical Southern Missouri 1] 

The Lowlands of the Southeast 13 

The Climate 14 

Health • 16 

Soils 17 

Agricultural Capabilities 18 

Horticulture 20 

Fruit Culture 21 

Vineyards and Wine 22 

Grasses and Pasturage 23 

Stock Raising 24 

Dairying - 25 

Wool Growing 26 

Minerals and Mining 27 

Manufacturers 30 

Flour Manufacture 31 

The Manufacture of Wool, Cotton, and Paper ...» 32 

Cotton Trade 34 

Labor and Wages 36 

Raihv ays and Transportation 36 

Postal Facilities 39 

Trade with the Southwest and Mexico 39 

Financial Condition of the State and Counties 41 

Homestead, Exemption, Dower, and Taxation Laws 43 

Universities, Colleges, and Academies of Missouri 45 

Free Schools of the State 45 

The Common Schools of St. Louis 48 

Religious Statistics 49 

Society in Missouri '. 50 

Game and Fish 51 

Why the Emigrant Should Come to Missouri 53 

THE THREE GREAT CITIES OF MISSOURI. 

St. Louis 55 

Kansas City • 65 

St. Joseph 71 

COUNTY REPORTS. 

Adair 75 

Andrew^ • 75 

Atchison 78 

Audrain 80 

Barry ^ 82 

Barton 83 

Bates 85 



Index. 



PAGE 

Benton 86 

Bollinger 87 

Boone 90 

Buchanan 95 

Butler 97 

Caldwell 98 

Callaway 100 

Camden 102 

Cape Girardeau 103 

Carroll 106 

Carter 107 

Cass ..'. 107 

Cedar 110 

Chariton 112 

Christian 114 

Clark • • • • 116 

Clay 117 

Clinton 118 

Cole 119 

Cooper 121 

Crawford 123 

Dade 124 

DaUas 127 

Daviess • 129 

DeKalb 131 

Dent 133 

Douglass .* ■ 133 

Dunklin 134 

Franklin 135 

Gasconade 137 

Gentry 139 

Greene 142 

Grundy 146 

Harrison 147 

Henry 148 

Hickory 150 

Holt 152 

Howard 154 

Howell 156 

Iron 158 

Jackson 159 

Jasper 160 

Jefferson 1G4 

Johnson 166 

Knox .* 168 

Laclede . • 170 

Lafayette 172 

Lawi-ence 173 

Lewis 17f 

Lincoln 175 

Linn 178 

Livingston • 180 

McDonald 182 

Macon 183 



Index. Hi 



PAGE 

Madison 186 

Maries 189 

Marion ^ , 190 

Mercer 192 

MiUer 194 

Mississippi 196 

Moniteairr 197 

Monroe 199 

Montgomery 200 

Morgan 202 

New Madrid 203 

Newton 204 

Nodaway 207 

Oregon 208 

Osage 209 

Ozark 210 

Pemiscot 211 

Perry ^ 214 

Pettis 216 

Plielps , 219 

Pike ' 220 

Platte 222 

Polk .224 

Pulaski 225 

Putnam 226 

Kails 227 

Kandolpli ". 229 

Eay .231 

Reynolds 233 

Ripley 234 

St. Charles 235 

St. Clair 237 

St. Francois 239 

Ste. Genevieve 241 

St. Louis 243 

Saline 245 

Schuyler 246 

Scotland 247 

Scott 248 

Shannon 250 

Shelby - 251 

Stoddard 252 

Stone 253 

Sullivan 254 

Taney -255 

Texas 256 

Vernon 258 

Warren 260 

"Washington 262 

Wayne 263 

Webster 263 

Worth 266 

Wrisht 267 



To:E'(DGrTi^^:B:E3:xa. 



Issued by tlie MISSOURI IMMIGRATION SOCIETY. St. Louis. January 1st. 1881. 




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